


Remember? -A Pokémon Story-

by triangularjuice



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Amnesia, Father-Daughter Relationship, Kidnapping, Other, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 28,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28643301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triangularjuice/pseuds/triangularjuice
Summary: Your name? (Y/N) Sycamore.The problem? You don't know this.As the 14-year-old daughter of Pokémon Professor Augustine Sycamore, himself, life was pretty good. That is, until about two years ago when you were abducted by a creature from another world: an Ultra Beast.It took you through a wormhole and back to its home, Ultra Space, without anyone witnessing it happen. This left the distraught Professor and Lumiose police with almost nothing, making the investigation very difficult.Now, when Ash and his friends travelled to Ultra Space in hopes of rescuing Lillie's mother, the last thing they expected to find was you. Confused and without any memory of your life before you were taken, can you find out who you really are? Can you be reunited with your family?Can you remember?Warnings: some violence, mentions of death(Officially, Sycamore is 30+ so for the sake of this story he will be 34)[Professor Sycamore x daughter!reader][Professor Kukui x reader platonic][Ash x reader platonic][Professor Burnet x reader platonic]-I do not own Pokémon or any of the characters-
Relationships: Burnet-hakase | Professor Burnet/Reader, Kukui-hakase | Professor Kukui/Reader, Platane-hakase | Professor Augustine Sycamore/Reader, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum/Reader
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12





	1. Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Xposted from wattpad under the same user :)

Darkness.

That's all you could see.

You could hear voices, but they sounded far away, like they were underwater. You tried to open your eyes, but you couldn't seem to control your body. You felt as if you had been asleep for a long time, and you couldn't get your body to wake up.

The voices stop, and the air around you starts to vibrate. The warmness that surrounds you begins to melt away. Suddenly, you feel cold air hit your skin as you start to fall. You wait for the the feeling of your body hitting the ground, but it never came. Instead, you feel arms catch you, and you start to panic.

'What is happening?' you think. 'Where am I?'

The voices are more clear now, but it's still difficult to understand them. You manage to open your eyes a little, and you can make out a boy staring back at you, concerned, with more people and Pokemon standing behind him. You can't move your body, and you can't keep your eyes open much longer.

"Hello? Can you hear me? What's your name?" the boy in front of you asks. You notice he has a Pikachu sitting on his shoulder. You try and say anything, but no words come out. Instead, you start coughing and you close your eyes. Your energy is fading, fast.

"We need to get her back to the Professors!" you hear someone exclaim. You suddenly feel yourself being lifted onto a soft, warm surface. You lean back on someone, and you feel their arms steady you, making sure you don't fall off whatever it is that you're on.

"Help me with her Pokemon!" someone says. After a moment, you notice more people climbing up next to you. Everything starts moving, taking you by surprise, and you suddenly feel very nauseous. You don't know what's going on, and you just want to go home.

Wait.

Where is home?

You start to regain more control of your body. You roll your head over and furrow your eyebrows

"Hey, she's starting to wake up!" you hear someone shout. You wish they wouldn't be so loud, it hurt your head. Then, as you managed to open your eyes a little, the sky exploded into bright orange colors. You quickly shut your eyes, unable to withstand the brightness, and after a moment, you feel everything come to a stop.

"We're back Professors!" a voice shouts from in front of you, followed by a little "Pika!" You feel everyone start to climb off of whatever you were riding on.

"Lusamine, you're safe!" you hear a woman say. The person you're leaning on speaks up.

"Yeah, but now we have a different problem," a boy says. You feel hands grab you as you're brought down to the ground. You try and open your eyes again, and when you do, you see a tuft of blue and black fur. You suddenly remember that wherever you were back there, you weren't there by yourself; you had Cato with you.

"Who is this?" an older man says as he picks you up.

"We don't know, Professor Kukui," someone replies. "We just found her and that Luxray in some weird rock-thing, like they were asleep or something."

"Huh? The Ultra Wormhole!" someone exclaimed. 'Ultra Wormhole?' you thought.

"It disappeared..." another voice said.

"We better get Lusamine and this girl home," states the older man. You try so hard to open your eyes, to find out what in the world is going on, but you just can't do it. You can move your body a little bit, so you shift in his arms. Your head is throbbing, and you feel exhausted, even though you feel as if you've been asleep for a very long time. You drift in and out until you hear what you assume is a helicopter nearing everyone.

You can feel yourself being moved into the helicopter, and as you're set down on a soft surface, you feel a familiar Pokemon's fur. 'Cato,' you thought. You're able to open your eyes just a little to confirm your thoughts; your Luxray is lying next to you, unconscious.

You feel the helicopter take off and you realize how drained you are. You thought back to your earlier concern, about home. Where is home? You shifted a little and furrowed your eyebrows as you realized you couldn't really answer that question. The hum of the helicopter is last thing you hear before you let exhaustion take over.


	2. Introductions

You feel... warm.

You can't make out your surroundings, everything just looks like colors blended together, however there is a sense of familiarity in the air. It makes you happy, but you don't really know why. You inhale slowly, and the smell of flowers and fruit make you smile. 

_'Where am I?'_ you think to yourself. You know you've been here before, but you just can't quite put your finger on it. You feel as if you're not alone, but it doesn't make you panic. You feel as if you're surrounded by friends. You hear someone calling your name, and you turn around.

Suddenly, all the colors and feelings of happiness are drained and replaced with a dark, uninviting feeling. You feel very cold, and your heart starts to race. You feel like you're not alone once again, but this time, it doesn't feel like you're with friends.

You open your eyes abruptly and the bright light made you quickly shut them again. You sit upright, slowly opening your eyes so they could adjust. After realizing you were just dreaming, you release your hold on the bed sheets and your heart rate starts to return to normal. Taking in your surroundings, you find yourself in a large bed with Cato lying next to you. 

Looking more closely, you see a large dresser across the room, a desk with some papers scattered across it, a small closet, and some doors: one across from you, and the other to the right. The morning sun lights up the room through the window to your left. You notice there's a nightstand next to you with an alarm clock and framed photo sitting on top. Picking up the photo, you see a man with some Pokemon, but you don't recognize any of them. 

You put the photo back on the nightstand and turn your head towards Cato. Your Luxray is sleeping peacefully at your feet, and when you reach out and pet his head, he stirs a little. 

Suddenly, you hear footsteps nearing the door across from you, and your heart rate quickens as muffled voices can be heard on the other side of it. Cato jolts awake, sensing your sudden fear, and looks over to the door. He doesn't jump off the bed, but he positions himself so he can easily do so. 

You hunch over a little bit, hiding yourself behind Cato's large body. The doorknob turns slowly and the door is gently pushed open. 

A man pokes his head in and sees you staring back at him from behind Cato; you recognize him as the guy in the photo you just saw. None of you make a sound, probably because no one really knows what to say. He pushes the door all the way open and walks in slowly so he doesn't startle you.

"Hello there," he said calmly as he approached the two of you. When he got near the bed, Cato let out a low growl, warning him not to come any closer. You put your hand on Cato's back, letting him know that it's okay.

The man pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down. "My name is Professor Kukui, what's yours?" he asks. You stare at him for a moment, debating whether or not you should trust him. When you tried to speak, no words came out, just a weird croaking sound and a few coughs. 

"Ash! Can you bring some water?" the man, Kukui, yells, a little concerned. You hear running, and suddenly a young boy bursts into the room, spilling water here and there, with a Pikachu dangling off his shoulder. You recognize him as the boy you saw when you first 'woke up' in that strange place. 

Ash offers you the now half-empty glass of water and you hesitantly take it. As you take a sip, it becomes clear that you haven't had anything to drink for a long time, and you chug the remaining water.

"This is Ash and his partner, Pikachu," Professor Kukui explains to you and Cato. You look up at Ash and he smiles at you.

"I'm from Pallet Town, in the Kanto region, where are you from?" he questions, attempting to make friendly conversation. You look down and furrow your eyebrows a bit as you think.

'Where am I from?' you ask yourself. 

"You've been out for a couple days, we were starting to get worried," Kukui states as he stands up. "I'm going to go find Burnet. Ash, stay with her. I'll be right back."

"Yessir!" Ash salutes as Professor Kukui leaves the room. Ash sits down on the chair and Pikachu jumps on the bed next to Cato. They sniff each other and make their own conversation, you assume.

"So.. why were you in Ultra Space?" Ash asks you. You looked at him, confused. "That's where we found you. You and your Luxray were stuck in some big crystal sleeping or something."

You didn't really know what to do with this information. Part of you didn't believe it. What even is Ultra Space? You try to speak again, but you still can't form any words: just that quiet croaking sound.

Ash gets up and takes your cup into the other room, returning with a full glass. He hands it to you and you pace yourself as you drink it, not wanting to down it too quickly. Professor Kukui returns as you set your glass down on the nightstand. A woman follows behind him.

"This is Professor Burnet," Kukui introduces to the two of you. 

"They just got married!" Ash whisper-yells to you, and the two adults blush slightly.

"Professor Burnet studies Ultra Wormholes and Ultra Beasts, and since Ash and the gang found you in Ultra Space, maybe she can help figure out what happened," Kukui explains.

You hope they were right.


	3. Forgotten

You like these people. You hardly know them, but they make you feel like everything will be okay.

Professor Kukui is gentle and kind, acting almost fatherly towards you. He seems to be genuinely concerned for you and wants to help you any way he can.

Professor Burnet is very sweet. She explained to you what Ultra Beasts are, and how they live in another dimension called Ultra Space. She explained how they travel through portals called Ultra Wormholes to get to this world and back.

Ash is... well, Ash. But in a good way. He tries to make you smile and forget your problems. You feel like you two could be great friends, even if he's younger by a couple years, though you don't know exactly how many.

As nice as they are, they still can't seem to solve the puzzle as to what in the world you were doing in Ultra Space, frozen in some crystal like you were in a coma.

Currently, Ash is trying to help you speak again, though you haven't been very successful.

"Come on! You can do it! Just say 'Alola'!" Ash exclaims enthusiastically. You appreciate his efforts, but you don't think it's going to work. You try it once again, but just like last time, nothing comes out except the sound of straining vocal cords.

"Ash, take it easy, it might take a couple of days until she can speak again," Professor Burnet says.

You take another drink of water, soothing your sore throat. Cato nudges your arm, giving you his support in his own way.

"I have an idea," Professor Kukui says as he leaves the room. Ash looks at you and shrugs, knowing nothing about what the professor might have in mind.

"If she can't tell us her name, she can at least write it down," Kukui says as he returns with a notebook and pencil. He hands the items to you and you hesitantly flip the notebook open to a blank page.

You suddenly feel nervous, as if, deep down, you know something isn't right.

"Okay, first things first, what's your name?" Professor Burnet asks. You bring the pencil to the paper and write out your name, flipping the notebook and showing them your answer.

'(Y/N)'

"(Y/N)! Great! Now we're getting somewhere! Okay (Y/N), what about a last name?" Ash questions. You go to start writing again, but you pause, suddenly realizing that you don't know what to write. The three of them notice your hesitation, and you look up to them, confused.

"You don't know?" Kukui asks with a frown, a hint of concern hidden in his voice. You gently shake your head 'no', starting to feel uneasy.

"Okay, well, let's try something else," Professor Burnet suggests, "How about your home? Where are you from?" You look down and furrow your eyebrows, thinking, but your mind draws a blank. You look up, panic evident on your face.

Why can't you remember anything?

"Don't remember that either, huh?" Ash sighs. You try to remember something, anything about yourself, even the tiniest detail, but nothing comes to mind. Kukui notices you starting to freak out.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, how about, uh," he stutters trying to calm you down, "How about your Luxray? What's his name?"

You look down at your companion next to you, calming down a bit as you realize you remember him, at least. You turn back to the notebook and write 'Cato'. You show the three of them the notebook and you can tell they, too, are relieved that you remember something else.

"Nice to meet you, Cato!" Ash says as he pets your Luxray, the latter giving out a small sound of approval.

"(Y/N)... do you remember anything else? Anything at all?" Professor Burnet asked gently. You look down, shaking your head slowly.

"Well.. getting you home could be a bit difficult, now," Kukui says quietly.

"Maybe this will help a little," Ash says as he grabs a backpack from the corner of the room, "You had this when we found you."

You take it from his outstretched hand, noticing how light it was. You unzipped the bag and looked inside. You frown, slightly disappointed from how little was actually in the backpack. You pull out a blue, knitted beanie, and although you don't fully recognize it, you feel something when you look at it.

Something... familiar.

You set the beanie down next to you and reach back into the bag, this time pulling out a small notebook. You flip through it, finding sketches of different Pokemon filling the pages. You study each one carefully, trying to clutch at any familiarity that could be surfacing in your mind.

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

"Wow, those are pretty good," Burnet said kindly. You gave her a weak smile, closing the notebook and putting it back in the bag. You looked through the other pockets, but they didn't have anything useful in them; just some pens, pencils, and more paper.

There was one thing, though, that sparked something in the back of your mind. You found a book in a small pocket, and it looked like it had been used quite a bit.

It was a book on Mega Evolution.


	4. First Steps

Over in the Kalos region, in Lumiose City, Pokemon Professor Augustine Sycamore has buried himself in his work ever since he lost the one thing that mattered most in his life: his daughter. 

At first, he basically abandoned his research and focused all of his attention on finding you. But when the case went cold, and he couldn't really do anything else, he let his work consume him. It's a good distraction. He sits at his desk in the late hours of the night, papers and books strewn across the wooden surface. Sycamore tries to focus, but when this time of year rolls around, that's the last thing he can actually do.

It's been almost two years since you disappeared from his life. When it gets close to the anniversary, Sycamore can't focus on anything except you. He tries to distract himself like he does the rest of the year with his work, but his mind won't let him. His mind forces him to suffer.

Augustine stares down at the pages in the book, but his mind keeps going back to the same place. He frustratingly swings his arm across the desk, knocking all the contents onto the floor. He sits back in his chair, rubbing his hands over his eyes. His arms slump against the chair and he looks at everything he just knocked off. He sees a picture frame laying face-down on the ground. He sighs as he leans over to pick it up. Grasping the edges, he pauses before he flips it over. He knows what this picture is, and he's not sure if he can look at it. He hesitantly turns it around. 

He's met with a photo of you and him on your 12th birthday. You both look so happy. The picture makes him smile, but it also tugs at his heart. He sets it back down on the desk, a lump forming in his throat. 

He stands up and steadies himself, turning off the lamp that's sitting on his desk. Walking out of his office, Sycamore hopes he can get some sleep tonight, but he knows deep down that his mind won't allow that.

~~~~~

Back in Alola, Professor Burnet explained to you that she believes you were in some sort of cryogenic sleep in Ultra Space for quite some time, which is why it's difficult for you to speak normally or walk very much. You went a while without speaking or using your muscles, so they're very weak and have to be strengthened.

For the past couple of days, you've been practicing speaking, but it hasn't improved much. It's like listening to a Dewgong cry. 

As for walking, you are currently trying to make your way over to the bathroom. Ash and Professor Kukui are currently away at Pokemon School, and Professor Burnet is off somewhere, doing research most likely.

Normally someone would be here to help you walk to the bathroom, but nope, not today. 

_'I can do this, it's just walking. I'm not a one year old,'_ you think to yourself. You've managed to make it halfway across the room, thanks to the crutches they left behind for you. Granted, you really aren't ready to use them yet because your arms aren't very strong, so you can barely keep yourself up.

Luckily, Cato is right next to you, although displeased with your stubbornness and refusal to wait for someone to get home. 

You focus on taking one step at a time, moving your crutches forward and your legs slowly following.

Miraculously, you make it to the bathroom. You balance carefully as you turn the knob and push the door open. You hobble in and take care of business. Looking in the mirror, you take in your appearance. 

Your (h/c) hair is messy and uncombed, you have bags under your eyes, and your skin looks like it hasn't seen sunlight in ages. You had traded your old, ripped clothes for a t-shirt and shorts that Burnet brought you. You stand awkwardly in a hunch, trying to keep your balance.

In other words, you're a mess.

You make your way out of the bathroom and carefully close the door. Cato is waiting where you left him, ready to help escort you back to the bed. You sigh as you start to trudge back. 

However, your muscles must have decided that enough was enough, and your legs gave out from under you. You would've gone face-first into the floor, but Cato used his body as a pillow to cushion your fall. 

You prop yourself up on your elbows and give Cato a shy smile as a thank you. He merely gives you a look that reeks of 'I told you so' and you give a breathy laugh. 

Suddenly, you hear a door open in the house followed by Ash's loud voice. They must be getting back from Pokemon School. You realize how pitiful you must look right now.

You think for a second that maybe you can make it back to the bed before they come in your room, but seeing the distance you would have to wobble immediately ends that plan. You hear their footsteps heading towards you and you prepare for the inevitable embarrassment.

The door opens as Ash comes barreling in, nearly tripping over you. Before he actually falls on you, he hops over your body and regains his balance on the other side of you. He turns around looks at you, confused. 

A moment later, Professor Kukui stops mid-way through the door and looks down at you and Cato with the same confused look. You give a small, sheepish smile, your face turning a little red. 

"What's... going on?" Kukui asks. Forgetting that you still can't really talk, you go to explain, but a hoarse noise is all that comes out. After clearing your throat, you just point to the bathroom.

"Oh, right," Kukui says, understanding what you were trying to say. "Well, let's get you up." 

Ash and Kukui both help you stand and make your way back over to the bed. You lay back against the headboard as Cato jumps up on the bed and lays at the edge.

"(Y/N), it's good that you're trying to get up and around, but doing it by yourself can be dangerous. Try and wait for us next time, please?" Kukui says gently. You look down, playing with the hem of the covers as you nod your head.

Satisfied, Kukui turns around and heads for the door. "I'm going to get dinner started. Ash, I could use your help," he says.

"Oh, sweet! I'm starving!" Ash says as he bolts after the professor. "Oh, (Y/N)," Ash says as he whips around right before passing through the doorframe, "I know you'll get it down soon. You'll be walking again in no time! You just gotta be careful."

He gives you a big smile and runs back out, chasing after the professor. You sit there for a moment, before a small smile finds its way onto your face.


	5. Adjusting

It's been about two weeks since you woke up in the Professor's home. You've worked hard at strengthening your muscles, and you can sometimes walk without your crutches. You've even practiced speaking so much that you can talk once again. Granted, it makes your throat sore and your voice sounds terrible, but it's a start.

You stir when sunlight hits your eyelids, and you stretch your arms out in front of you. Opening your eyes slowly, you sit up and see Cato lying at the end of the bed, watching you. You scratch behind his ears and he gives a happy growl in response. You lean over and grab your crutches, swinging your legs over the side of the bed. Standing up carefully, you put your weight on the crutches and make your way over to the bathroom to change. 

When you exit the bathroom, Cato is waiting expectantly for you at the door. You roll your eyes and carefully open the door. Cato runs out to the kitchen, tired of waiting for his breakfast. You follow behind him, albeit at a much slower pace, but you make your way over and sit down at the table next to Ash.

"Good morning, (Y/N)!" Ash says between mouthfuls of food.

"G'morning, Ash," you reply with a smile. Kukui brings over some breakfast for you and sits down at the other side of the table with his own. You give a quick 'thank you' and start to eat. You notice Professor Burnet isn't here; she must have left early.

"Your voice is sounding stronger, (Y/N)," the Professor says to you. You look over at him and smile.

"Yeah, it's starting to hurt less, too," you say, cheerfully.

"So, I was thinking," Ash says suddenly, "the others really want to meet you, (Y/N). You've been here for a while and they still haven't gotten to see you." 

Your heart suddenly starts racing. Ash has brought this up before but you shut it down real quick. You don't remember much about yourself, but you do know that you're not a fan of meeting new people. 

Or social situations in general, really.

Kukui pipes up, "That's true, they have been asking about you quite a bit," he says, looking at you.

"I, uh, I don't- um, I think-" you stutter, nervously, looking everywhere except at them. 

Ash sighs. "It's okay, you don't have to," he says supportively, yet you can still hear his disappointment.

"I don't know, (Y/N), I think it would be good for you to get out and meet some new people. You haven't talked to anyone except Burnet, Ash, and I since you got here," Kukui states.

You quickly shake your head, looking down.

"Okay, okay, we'll talk about this another time," Kukui sighs. "Ash, we have to get going or we'll be late," he says, changing the subject. Ash scarfs down the rest of his food and jumps up, grabbing his backpack as Pikachu climbs up on his shoulder.

"See ya later, (Y/N)!" Ash says as he runs out the door, Kukui close behind.

"Be careful, we'll be back later," Kukui says with a smile as he closes door behind him. You get up slowly and head to the bathroom to brush your teeth, Cato following closely behind you.

~~~~~

The last few hours have consisted of you aimlessly wandering around the house, talking to yourself and the Pokemon.

Sometimes during the days when you get bored, you go back to the backpack you apparently had when they found you. You wear your blue knitted beanie a lot in hopes that it will help you remember something. No luck yet, though. You also sometimes have the urge to draw in that notebook of yours, but you're afraid that if you write in it now it could hurt the memory you have buried somewhere in your mind.

You also have that book. The book on Mega Evolution.

You thought that maybe it meant something, maybe it was a clue, but Professor Burnet explained to you that ever since Mega Evolution was discovered, people from all over the world were interested in it, so the book couldn't really help them.

You make your way back to your room, pulling your backpack onto the bed and sitting down. You reach in and pull the book out. Every time you read this book, you feel something, though you don't know what. You stare at the cover. It's littered with different colors, and at the center is the large Mega Evolution symbol. Flipping through the pages, you skim over the text, but what you're really interested in are the notes in the margins.

You can tell it's your handwriting, but it feels strange to look at. You try and focus on that feeling, closing your eyes and concentrating. Trying to remember something. Anything. You open your eyes and shove the book in your backpack, angrily.

"I need some air," you say to yourself. You sling the backpack over your shoulders and grab your crutches, standing up. Cato follows behind you, curious. You haven't gone outside much since you woke up, but you needed a change in scenery. Halfway to the door, you pause, looking down at your crutches. You feel an overwhelming sense of anger. You shift your weight and grab one, and then the other, and you throw them to the side.

You've walked without them before, and you'll do it again. You straighten up and make your way to the front door, taking small steps. Cato lets out a small warning growl, trying to stop you, but it's no use. You look back your Luxray. 

"I've walked without them before, Cato. See? I'll be fine," you say as you take more steps.

You reach for the doorknob and hesitate, suddenly feeling uneasy about this. You shake your head and shove the door open, stepping out into the warm afternoon sun, Cato following close behind.


	6. The Hike

You carefully make your way down the front steps as you hear the door shut behind you. Cato is following close by, and when you look over at him, he gives you a painfully disapproving glance. You roll your eyes and turn your head away, taking in your surroundings. You head down towards the water, and to your right you see a path leading somewhere. You don't care where it goes, you just want to get out of here.

After following the path for a bit, you walk up to a sign.

"'Ten Carat Hill,'" you read aloud, curiously. "Sounds good to me," you state, looking at Cato. As you move to keep walking, he suddenly jumps in front of you, cutting you off. You give him a glare and try to go around him, but he's persistent in trying to keep you from going any further.

"Cato, move please," you say, slightly irritated. He growls and gestures up to the sky, and you follow his gaze. The sky is peppered with gray clouds that cover the afternoon sun.

"There's not going to be a storm. If anything, it'll just rain. I'm not going to be gone for a long time," you snap back. Cato refuses to move, though, and you're starting to get angry. You reach behind and grab a pocket on your backpack, pulling out a single pokeball.

"Cato, don't make me use this, because I will," you demand as you hold it out, threatening to return him to his Pokeball. Cato glares at you, and then at your hand. You stare him down, until he finally moves to let you pass.

You shove the pokeball back in your bag and walk past Cato, who looks beyond frustrated. Your anger and adrenaline drown out any aches in your muscles you should be having right now. This is the hardest you've pushed your legs so far. Walking down the path, you look at the few Pokemon who poked their heads out of the rocks and grass to see who is disturbing their home. You notice there isn't anyone else around, and you're thankful for that.

Cato follows at a safe distance, irritated at your actions. You continue to march forward, lost in your thoughts, and ignoring everything around you. 

After a bit of trudging up dirt paths and walking through tall grass, you find another little path that splits off on its own. You pause for a moment. You don't know how long you've been walking. You look up to the sky and don't see the sun. It must be low enough that the mountain is blocking you from seeing it. 

You look behind you and debate if you should turn around and head back to the Professor's house, but thinking about going back only to just be stuck in bed doing nothing makes you groan. You look back to the little path and decide to follow it. You're starting to feel the aches in your legs, but you ignore them and keep moving. Cato sighs and follows you, staying close enough that if you need to lean on him you could.

After all, you did throw your crutches down at the house.

The little path is a pretty small. It would be difficult for a full grown adult to get through here, but your small form fits through just fine. You can tell that this path doesn't get a lot of visitors. When you finally make it to the end of this little path, you're met with a hole in the side of Ten Carat Hill. You go into the hole and through a tunnel, which leads to a little cliff. The cliff has a few small trees growing on it with a few patches of grass, and at the edge, there's a beautiful view of the ocean.

You walk over to the edge and take in the view. You look down and suddenly notice how high up you are. You didn't realize you had been walking long enough to get this high on the mountain. You feel a little dizzy looking down at the crashing waves below you, so you take a few steps back. You plop down and sit back against a tree, setting your backpack beside you. You look up and finally see the sun, noticing how low it is.

'Must be evening already. Dang, how long have I been walking?' you think to yourself. You start to feel the ache in your legs and you sigh heavily. Cato walks over to the other tree and lays down beneath it.

You reach over to your backpack and pull out the book on Mega Evolution. You flip back to the pages with your handwriting in them and look at the notes closely. You seemed to really know a lot about Mega Evolution. More than the average person, at least. 

As you flip through the chapters, you skim over the text, trying to re-familiarize yourself with the contents. You turn page after page of studies and hypotheses on Mega Evolution. You know there's something about this book that can help you. You just know it. Every time you read it, you feel something in the back of your mind. When you try and grab onto that feeling, it goes away and leaves you with a bad headache.

You can hear Cato's soft snores, and you look over at him. You feel kinda bad for snapping at him, but he was trying to get you to go back, and you needed to get away.

You turn back to your book and continue your efforts in finding something that can help you two. After skimming notes and pages for what feels like hours, you start reading something about how there are only a select few Pokemon that can Mega Evolve. You look over at your thoughts you scribbled down in the margins and your heart feels like it stops.

You read it over and over again, making sure you're reading it correctly. 

_'Idiots. Just because only a few Pokemon have been proven to be able to Mega Evolve doesn't mean others will never be able to. Dad says he's close to proving more Pokemon are capable of Mega Evolution. That'll show them.'_

You feel as if the air has been knocked out of you. It isn't a whole lot to go off of, but it's way more than you had before.

"Cato!" you yell as you turn to your partner. His head whips around in alarm, thinking something's wrong. "Dad!" you say as you hold up the book. "It says 'Dad'!" 

You read the note out loud for Cato as he walks over to you. You throw your arms around your Luxray's neck and hug him like there's no tomorrow.

"This proves it," you say to him, "our family knows a lot about Mega Evolution. They have to be scientists or something. I knew this book would help us!" 

Your celebration is cut short when a huge bolt of lightning cuts across the sky and lets out a deafening crack. You look up and see that the little gray clouds from earlier have turned into a massive storm. You quickly shove your Mega Evolution book into your backpack and stand up, suddenly nervous. Though as soon as you stand up, your legs basically give out from under you and you fall back onto the ground. Wincing, you prop yourself up on your elbows and look over at Cato.

"I guess that hike up here really messed with me. I don't think my muscles can handle the trip down," you say, defeated.

Suddenly, the sky opens up and rain pours out onto the two of you. Cato helps you shuffle over to the tunnel that you followed to get here. You plop down against the wall, and Cato shakes his body in an attempt to dry off. You shrug your backpack off and rub your eyes, leaning your head against the rocky wall.

"It's gonna be a long night," you sigh.


	7. Danger

You and Cato have been sitting in this little tunnel for what feels like hours. The storm has gotten worse, with no signs of letting up any time soon. Cato is curled up next to you, trying to preserve body warmth for the two of you.

It's so cold.

You shiver against Cato's fur, head resting against the hard, rocky wall behind you. You know Ash and the Professors are probably really worried. You left without leaving any hint of where you were going. Granted, you didn't really know where you were going either.

"I'm sorry," you say, your voice drowned out slightly by the torrential rain pouring outside. Cato lifts his head and looks at you, but this time he doesn't have the look of "I told you so" on his face. Instead, he just looks worried.

"I should've listened to you, we wouldn't be stuck here if I did," you sniffle. Cato shifts and lays his head down in your lap, and you rest your hand on top of his spiked head.

You sit there in silence, the only noise being the sound of rain pounding against rock and thunder growing in the distance. You stroke your Luxray's black fur and stare outside at the storm. You feel a lump start to form in your throat, and hot tears make their way to the corners of your eyes. A tear slides down your cheek as you bite your lip, struggling to keep it all in.

You hiccup as more tears trail down your face, and Cato looks up at you, worried.

"I just want to go home," you say quietly, "like, home home." You look down at Cato and smile faintly.

"I miss Dad, and I don't even know who he is. I miss him so much, Cato. And what about Mom? I don't even know if I have a Mom," you say in between hiccups. Cato looks up at you with sad eyes, wishing he could help, but he doesn't remember either.

"Why can't we remember anything? Why did this have to happen to us, of all people? It's not fair!" you yell as you lay your head back, hitting it against the rock wall. You close your eyes as more tears fall down your face. Cato nuzzles his head in your lap again, comfortingly.

You both sit like that for a bit, until you break the silence.

"Do you think he even misses us?"

Cato lifts his head abruptly and stares at you with a hard look on his face. You look away sadly, staring at the raging storm outside that's keeping you from getting back to safety.

~~~~~

More time passes, and you know you can't take much more of this. You sneeze heavily and turn to Cato, who's taken to pacing around the little tunnel, too worried about the storm to lay down.

"Cato, you can make it out of here," you say, exhausted. Cato stops pacing and looks over at your weak form and growls, immediately dismissing your suggestion.

"You can find Professor Kukui and bring him back here, I'll be fine," you continue. Cato shakes his head and lets out a sound of disapproval. He makes his way over and sits down next to you, protectively. He won't leave you alone. He has to protect you.

"Cato," you say as you put a hand on his head, "please, I need you to go get help. I can't wait here until the storm lets up. I'll be just fine, I promise."

Cato looks down at you, concern etched across his face. He nuzzles his head into your arm and licks your face, then gives you a look of determination. You smile and wrap your arms around his large body.

"Thank you," you whisper. When you let go, Cato runs to the entrance of the tunnel, and takes one last glance behind him at you before sprinting out into the storm to find Professor Kukui. You sigh and lean back against the rocky interior, shivering. You listen to the sound of rain and thunder. If it wasn't for the fact that you were stuck here, it would've been peaceful.

A little while passed when you suddenly feel something wet against your legs. You look down, confused, and you see that the ground is now covered in water. You watch the water flow towards the exit of the tunnel and see the water spilling over the edge of the cliff. Your eyes widen as you look to the other end at the entrance of the tunnel, realization sinking in.

Ten Carat Hill is shaped like a bowl. Massive amounts of rain would cause it to fill up and flood, but it never does.

So where does all that water go?

The little path you followed here is too small for a fully grown adult, meaning it isn't an actual designated path. You're sitting right in the tunnel that drains all of the flooded water out of Ten Carat Hill.

You start to panic as you realize just how much danger you're in. You look towards the entrance of the tunnel, where you came from. Maybe you could limp your way out just before the huge flood goes through the tunnel.

No, you can hardly even stand, you could never squeeze your way out like you had to coming in. You look towards the exit where the cliff is. You grab your backpack and force yourself to stand, your legs almost giving out, screaming in protest. The water is now up to your ankles. You lean against the wall, shuffling your way out to the cliff and into the raging storm. Looking around, you see a large boulder embedded into the wall. You know you'll never be able to climb it, but it can be used to keep something else safe.

You take off your backpack and toss it on top of the boulder, out of the way so the water won't destroy everything inside. You know it's probably the last thing you should be worrying about right now, but if you survive, you don't want your book, the only link to your dad you have, to be ruined.

You turn around, and search for anything else that could save you. There's basically nothing, since every time the mountain floods it drains here and takes out any small boulders and plants you could use. The water is up to your knees now, and it's picking up speed, almost knocking you over. You need to stay away from the edge, because if you lose your balance, you'll fall. Frantic, you make your way over to one of the larger trees on the small cliff. You get behind it and wrap your arms around it to try and hold you in place. Your heart races as you can feel the water rising quicker and getting stronger.

Your hands slip against the wet trunk and you nearly fall over, but you manage to latch on again and straighten yourself out. The water is up to your chest now and its strength is almost too much. You screw your eyes shut and squeeze the trunk as hard as you possibly could. Suddenly, you hear something in the distance. It might just be your ears playing tricks on you, but you swear you heard a voice calling out.

"Hello?" you scream out, voice drowned out by the rain. "Is someone there?" you scream louder. You listen for any sort of response, any sound other than the roaring water.

There it is. You know you heard it that time.

"I'm here!" you yell out, trying to get their attention, whoever it was. 

"(Y/N)? Is that you?" you hear a faint voice call, followed by a head poking over the top of the boulders surrounding the cliff. You look up, squinting to see who it is.

"(Y/N)!" the person yells, and you recognize the voice.

"Professor Kukui!" you shout, "I can't hold on much longer!" Cato's head pops up over the side next to the Professor's, and he lets out a yell of pure terror.

"(Y/N), hold on! We're coming down to get you!" Kukui yells over the sound of rushing water.

You close your eyes and grasp the tree trunk, trusting that they'll get you out of here. You hear them yelling and shuffling around, and you suddenly hear the professor shouting your name. You open your eyes and see his outstretched hand in front of you, and you see how they used their Pokemon to help get him as close to you as they could. You reach out for his hand, but your arm isn't quite long enough. You shuffle a little to try and get closer, and you can just barely feel his fingertips when you hear a deafening roar. You turn towards the source and see the tunnel completely filled with water, shooting like a jet right towards you. You hear Kukui start to shout your name again, but it's cut off when the water hits your body with so much force that it knocks you off the tree's support.

The water shoots over the edge of the cliff, taking you with it.


	8. The Stranger

Augustine Sycamore was once again in his office, trying to focus on his work, but his mind kept floating back to the same thing. It's nearly been two years since you were taken. He throws down his pencil and rubs his temples, groaning. He glances towards the door of his office and sighs; if he can't focus on his work, there's no point in trying right now.

He gets up and sluggishly makes his way out, heading down the hall. He was originally headed for his room for a night of restless sleep, but he pauses as he passes the door to your room, and glances over his shoulder at it. He feels compelled to go inside. Opening the door slowly, he pokes his head in, half-wishing you would be there, waiting for him. Instead, he's met with an empty room that hasn't been disturbed in nearly two years.

He didn't touch anything after you disappeared, he wanted to leave everything the way it was. Stuffed Pokemon are laying on their side on your ruffled twin bed. Pencils and markers are strewn across your desk, laying on top of unfinished drawings, while moonlight filters through your curtains covering your small window that overlooks Lumiose City. A small layer of dust is covering your dresser and bookcase, and a book on Pokemon Evolution sits open on the wooden top.

Sycamore smiles faintly at the book. You were always so fascinated by his work, taking your time to research on your own. He was so proud of you.

He slumps down on the ground next to your bed and leans his head against the mattress, closing his eyes and inhaling the scent of the musty and unused bedroom. Sycamore blames himself, honestly. Kids grow up fast in this world. There are tons of kids your age that travel the world on their own journeys, so there wasn't much to worry about. Or so he thought.

When neither you nor Cato came home one day, Sycamore panicked. You always came home at the same time. You always stuck to your routine. He thought maybe you got trapped somewhere and were stuck. Lumiose is a big place. He trusted Cato would protect you. But when the search party didn't find any evidence of you being stuck anywhere, Sycamore had a feeling something was really wrong.

You weren't just missing. You were taken.

Augustine glances over at the picture frame on your nightstand. It's the same picture he has on his desk in his office: the one taken on your twelfth birthday. A lump starts to form in his throat as his heart yearns to see you again. To hug you again. The picture starts to get fuzzy from the tears blurring his vision. He swallows thickly as tears fall down his cheek and onto the carpet below.

~~~~~

Opening your eyes, you're greeted by blinding white light. Recoiling at the brightness, you bring your hand up to rub your temples. You suddenly remember that you were just blown off the side of a mountain, and you look around, confused.

 _'Am I dead?'_ you think to yourself. Just then, the whiteness surrounding you melts away and changes into a small, dark room. There's a bright red door along the far side that stands out from the rest of the room. It's not dark and intimidating like its surroundings, instead it's warm and inviting.

However, a large figure emerges from the shadows. It's extremely tall, over double your height, and it has multiple arms that flail around like loose cables. Electricity sparks from its body, and its head looks like a large, spikey ball.

You take a step backwards, terrified of this creature in front of you. It seems familiar, somehow. Not a good familiar, necessarily.

 _'Is this a Pokemon?'_ you wonder, nervously. One of its wire-like arms reach out towards you and wraps around your leg, tugging you off balance and onto the ground. You scream as you reach for something to grab onto, but there's nothing.

As the creature pulls you toward it, more of its cables wrap around your torso and arms. You struggle frantically to escape its grasp, but nothing works. It lifts you off the ground and up to its head, as if it's looking at you up close, regardless of the fact it has no eyes.

You feel a jolt of electricity run through your body, and you scream out. You screw your eyes shut and clench your teeth, trying to withstand the pain. Suddenly, with its electricity coursing through your veins, the blurred sense of familiarity this creature gave you became clear. This was the thing that appeared that day and took you away.

You open your eyes and look at the creature with nothing but pure hatred.

"You're the one that took me away from my home! From my family!" you scream at it. You feel a new sensation coursing through your body. The electricity this creature was injecting into your body began to lessen. Though it wasn't the creature that was stopping, it was your body absorbing the energy.

You can feel the electricity inside you, but it doesn't hurt. You gather it together in your veins, and you can feel it pulsing against your fingertips. In an act of anger, you feel a surge release from your body, and the strange creature lets out a scream of pain in response. It drops you abruptly and you land with a heavy thud on the ground. You look up at the creature with wide eyes, realizing what you just did. You can feel the tingle of electricity throughout your body. The creature stops screaming and turns toward you, menacingly.

All of a sudden, your head feels like it's splitting in two. Your head is filled with a deafening, metallic voice. Your hands fly up to clutch your head, and you curl up into a tight ball to try and will away the pain.

"W̷̫̜͈̯͇̓̊̂̒̈́h̸̺̞͉̯̝͈̪̊̅́o̶̢͍̠̖͇͉̺̕͜ ̴̡̭͙̦̺̮̈́̋̏̈̇̈́̆͋̅̚d̷̨̨̘͓͓͖̎̈́͜ǭ̸̖̤̟̙̱͗̒̅̎̋ ̷̨͈̝̠̼͖̞̈́̐̓̆̊̅͊̓͝ÿ̷̨͚̼́͜o̷̠̊̔ŭ̶̫̼̜̜̩̗͎̼̪͑ ̷̖̇t̸̨̥̠̣̭̤̝̥͂͆̈́̍̑̏̎͐̋h̶̥͙͔͛̉ḭ̴̢̢͕̯̭̻̤̑̅̌͒̆̅̇͛̆n̶̨̨̻̣͖̻͓͋̎̇̑͑̋̏͜ķ̴͕͎͓̩͍͙̫̘̙̋̅̓̂̍̇̀͘̕͠ ̸̛̣̠̲̻̯͇̤̄̐̿̎y̷̡̫͇͋̿̓̿̄̍̕o̶̟̘͙̬̻̪͕͂̾u̶͓̤͍̳̥̮̒͗ ̵̼̭̽͘̚ͅa̷̡̭̬̪̹̝̣̙̅̃̈́ͅr̸͓̳̈́̐̈́̂͛̕e̷͕̎͆̄̇͗̚?̷̢͎̠̼͚͎̰̎̈̍̌̇̋"the voice demands.

You open one eye and look up at the Pokemon, assuming it's the one yelling at you, but that doesn't explain how you can understand what it's saying. The strange creature makes its way towards you again, and you panic. It continues to scream questions and threats at you. With as much willpower as you can muster, anger coursing through your veins, you scream at it to stop, almost as a demand rather than a plea. Then, there's nothing but silence.

With no more voices screaming in your head, you look up, confused, and see the strange creature standing completely still. It somehow looks just as confused as you are, as if it didn't want to stop, but something made it. As it comes to its senses, it starts making its way towards you again, sparks flickering off its body. You can feel electricity coursing through you again, but there's no pain. The anger you have inside you wells up and you feel like you're about to burst.

"Leave me alone!!" you scream out, louder than you ever have before. Your voice sounds different, like there's a metallic undertone to it. In a blinding flash, the creature was gone. You open your eyes and look around cautiously, wondering what in the world just happened.

 _'Maybe this is just some freaky dream,'_ you think to yourself, _'Yeah, that's gotta be it. Come on, (Y/N), time to wake up.'_ You stand back up slowly and make your way to the door across the room. You can hear faint murmurs on the other side.

You take a deep breath and open the door, stepping into the sea of white that awaits you inside.


	9. Alive

Cold.

So cold.

Everything hurts.

Can't breathe.

Your head aches as a shrill ringing sound pierces the air.

You can't move. You can't speak. You can only feel.

A jolt of electricity courses through your body, and your muscles tighten. You feel a tingling sensation in your limbs, and you can hear muffled voices through the darkness.

Another jolt. Your head hurts even more now.

The ringing is still there.

Make it stop.

One last jolt of electricity throws you back into awareness. A blinding white light shines through your eyelids. Voices swim around you. The shrill beeping finally stops, though the echo of it still rings in your ears. Your surroundings reek of disinfectant.

You suddenly feel something coming up your throat. You roll over onto your side as you throw up the water that you must've swallowed. You feel hands on your back and arms holding you up, and you collapse into them as your energy leaves you. Voices start to straighten out, and you can feel someone lowering you back down onto a soft surface. You slowly pry your eyes open, wincing at the blinding lights above. You can make out a couple figures standing around you, but you're still a bit disoriented.

"(Y/N)! Oh sweet Arceus, we thought we lost you!" a voice calls out as you feel someone embrace your limp body. Professor Kukui. You look up and see his face full of both relief and concern. Your mouth hangs open as you try to reply, but no words come out. You feel a soft nudge at your fingertips, and you sluggishly look down to see Cato. He's drenched, and he looks like he's about to cry.

You give him a small smile as you weakly lift your hand to rub his head. You slowly turn back to the others in the room and take in your surroundings. You have a brace on your left arm and right ankle, but that was it. There are monitors hanging above you, showcasing your medical statistics, and some other machines you don't know anything about.

Ash is sitting in a chair to your left with Pikachu standing on the armrest, towels dangling off their necks from their attempts to dry off. Professor Burnet is standing next to him, hair sticking out everywhere from being out in the storm. A couple doctors and some nurses watch you with careful eyes from across the room, wary of your physical state. Professor Kukui is standing to your right, next to Cato, his hand rubbing his forehead. You can tell you're going to get the lecture of a lifetime for this.

"Oh! We got your backpack, (Y/N)," Ash says, trying to break the awkward silence. You turn towards him as he stands up, holding your bag. You smile and sit upright a little too fast. Pain jerks through your body and you let out a little cry as you fall back onto the bed. Professor Kukui puts a hand on your shoulder to steady you, and you close your eyes, waiting for the pain to fade.

"Hold on there, you're in pretty bad shape," Kukui says, "We lost you there for a second."

"W-what?" you stutter, looking at him. He stares back at you with sad eyes and gives you a reassuring smile.

"Your heart stopped beating for a couple seconds. The doctors had to use an AED Pokemon," he explained. You look away from his eyes, letting this sink in.

You had died. Yeah, it was only for a few moments, but you had still died.

"H-how... how am I still alive?" you question, referring to the fact that you were literally thrown off a mountain. Kukui sighs, recalling the events from earlier.

"We ran down to the base of Ten Carat Hill, and Kukui jumped in after you. He pulled you out of the water, but you weren't responding, so we called the paramedics," Professor Burnet answers, "the huge waves from the storm somehow cushioned your fall. You were unconscious, but you weren't terribly injured."

You nod slowly and look down. Suddenly remembering your encounter with that strange creature, your heart rate quickens.  
_'Maybe the Professors could help figure out what that weird Pokemon was,'_ you think to yourself.

"Considering you withstood falling off a mountain into the ocean and coming out of it with very little damage, we want to keep you here for a bit to make sure everything is alright, but you'll be clear to go in a few days," says one of the doctors. You weren't too keen on being locked up in a hospital, but you nodded nonetheless. Being stuck in bed was the reason you left the house in the first place.

How ironic.

The doctors and nurses finally left you four alone to go tend to other patients, and you felt this was a good opportunity to ask about the Pokemon you saw. It would also postpone the dreaded conversation about you running off.

"So, um, while I was knocked out, I had this really weird dream," you start, "At least, I think it was a dream... I don't really know." Professor Burnet sits down in the chair next to Ash, while Kukui pulls up a chair next to your bed. Cato is curled up on a Pokemon bed, exhausted from the events that had taken place.

"What happened?" Burnet questioned. You sat there for a moment, trying to find the right words to describe your encounter.

"I was in this.. room, and there was a creature there. I think it was a Pokemon? It was really tall, and its head looked like a giant spikey crystal, or something. It had a bunch of arms that were like cables, too," you explained.

"Whoa, that sounds like a really strong Pokemon," Ash pipes up. He's been fairly quiet this whole time. Probably shaken up from what had happened tonight.

Professor Kukui looked over to Burnet, whose eyebrows furrowed as she thought about your words. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a strange device that you didn't recognize.

"Did it give off electricity?" she asks as she types on the device. You nod, curious. She then walks over to you, showing you the device she was looking at. "Did it look like this?" she asks. You study the image on the screen, and your eyes widen. You look up at Burnet, nodding.

"When _exactly_ did you have this dream?" she questions, trying to hide the concern in her voice. You thought for a moment, trying to remember. Everything was a bit hazy.

"Right before I woke up here," you admitted, truthfully. She looks over at her husband, nervously.

"What? What is it?" you ask them. Burnet sighs and looks back at you.

"Its name is UB-03 Lighting, also known as Xurkitree. It's an Ultra Beast," she says, her voice now laced with worry. You peer up at her, suspicious. You know there's something else, something they're keeping from you.

"What are you not telling me?" you state. Burnet looks up from the device and sighs.

"Xurkitree is supposedly known to show up in peoples' subconscious before death to try and absorb the last bits of their life force. They convert it into electricity to sustain their own life energy, but this can only happen if they have had direct contact with the person while they were living," she finally admits.

No one says anything; no one knows what to say, really. The only sound being the pitter-patter of light rain on the hospital window, leftover from the storm. You stare at the small raindrops trailing down the glass as you think. This only confirms your memory that returned to you in that encounter.

"It's the thing that took me away from my Dad," you announce with anger in your tone.


	10. A Familiar Face

You're running. Running through a forest.

_Running from what?_

Legs are burning. Adrenaline is coursing through your veins.

You can hear something behind you.

_Have to get away._

Your foot snags on a tree root, and you fall to the ground. You try to yank it free, but the roots are wrapping around your ankle. You look behind you, trying to see what you're running from.

You hear your name. You whip your head around, looking for the source. You hear it again, and again, and again, from all directions. It's a voice you recognize, but can't put a face to.

"(Y/N)," you hear more clearly than the rest. You look in front of you and see a tall figure. You can't make out any defining features, just the basics.

Dark, curly hair.

Lab coat.

You try and look at his face, but you can't make it out, almost as if his face isn't even there. You turn and look at the tree roots curling up your legs, pulling you away from this man.

"(Y/N), do you remember?" the man says. Your heart rate picks up. _Remember?_

You look at him again, straining to see anything that could tell you his identity. As you stare at his nondescript figure, you feel tingling in the back of your mind. A sharp pain stabs your skull, making you yelp and clutch your head. The roots squeeze harder around your lower body as you rack your brain, trying to identify this man in front of you. With another sharp stab in your head, vague memories start returning to you.

_An injured Shinx._

_A big city._

_A twelfth birthday._

You stare up at the man, mouth agape. Tears start to form in your eyes as it dawns on you.

"D-dad?" you whisper to the man. A kind smile makes its way onto his face, and he reaches his hand out to you. You desperately try to grab it, but he's just out of reach.

"Dad!" you scream, as the tree roots curl up and around your torso, pulling you away from your father. You continue calling out for him as the roots morph into cable-like limbs. You look back in horror as the tree converts into Xurkitree.

Its arms wrap around your body, engulfing you completely. You look back at your Dad, who is still waiting for you to take his hand. You beg for him to help you, but he doesn't move. You scream and struggle against your captor, trying to break free, but it's too strong. You can feel darkness prickling the back of your mind. Tears are flowing freely down your face as you look to your Dad's featureless figure one last time. You scream out to him right before you slip away, your mind being consumed in a thick darkness.

~~~~~

You sit upright, panting heavily. You bring your hand up to your forehead and push your (h/c) hair out of your face, holding it in a balled fist on top of your head. Your cheeks are wet from your tears.

You look around, the small hospital room only slightly illuminated by the light of the moon shining through your window. You breathe deeply as you listen to the rain and occasional roll of thunder. Cato is still sound asleep in his bed on the floor.

Earlier, you had asked to be alone for the night, needing some time to think. Professor Kukui was against the idea, but you managed to convince him that you would be fine. You still have Cato, after all. So here you are, in the late hours of the night, crying to yourself, yearning for comfort from a father you barely remember.

You bring your knees up to your chest and wrap your arms around your legs. The memories that came back to you in that dream... are they real? Are they actually yours? They sure feel like it.

 _'I lived in a big city,'_ you think to yourself, _'one of the biggest.'_

_'I found an injured Shinx and brought him home so my dad could help him. I named him Cato.'_

_'The last birthday I celebrated was my twelfth, so I must have been taken sometime after that.'_

You look up, searching the room for a calendar or something. Don't hospital rooms usually have a small 'hang in there!' calendar? Frustrated, you hop down from your bed and wince a little, body aching. You tiptoe over to the door, careful not to wake Cato, and slip on your shoes.

You suddenly feel hesitant, remembering how adamant Kukui and the doctors were about you not getting out of bed. If you keep pushing your body like this, it could be really damaging. You know that if you get caught you're going to be in a lot of trouble. Arceus, you could even picture them handcuffing you to the bed so you couldn't leave.

You apologize to Kukui internally and crack the door open, peering out to see if anyone is in the hall. You glance back at Cato and then slip out, carefully shutting the door. You sneak silently down the hallway, nearly tripping over your too-large hospital gown, looking for an office or something of that nature. A clock hanging from the wall reads 3:45 AM, so hopefully you won't run into anyone.

As if on cue with your thoughts, you hear footsteps echoing from around the upcoming corner, and you freeze. You frantically look around for somewhere to hide, settling on what looks like a broom closet. You quickly, but quietly, slip inside and carefully pull the door so it looks shut.

A doctor appears through the door crack, head down in a clipboard, walking slowly down the hallway you just came from. You hold your breath, keeping completely still. The doctor yawns and pauses at the corner, looking behind him.

He looks down at his clipboard and then up to the clock on the wall. He turns around and comes back down the hallway, towards you. He walks past your closet and heads down a different corridor. You wait a couple seconds before slowly pushing the door open and exiting, looking around carefully.

 _'How hard is it to find a calendar in a hospital??'_ you think to yourself after a couple minutes of wandering aimlessly through the halls. After what feels like forever to your fatigued body, you finally come across a small office.

Peering in the small window, you make sure nobody is inside before slipping in. Not wasting any time, you immediately scan the small room for some sort of way to find the year. Your eyes land on a small desk calendar, and you quickly pick it up, flipping to the front.

Your heart drops as you stare at the numbers in front of you. _'This can't be right,'_ you think.

_It's been two years?_

Suddenly, the door to the office opens, and the doctor from earlier walks in. Startled, you drop the little calendar. He stops abruptly, surprised at your presence. He crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

"I-I needed to know the date," you blurt out, quickly. He rolls his eyes, not believing your story. He grabs your arm, pulling you out of the room.

However, when he grabs your arm, something inside you snaps. You start struggling against him, your heart racing. You don't know what's happening, but all you want is for him to let go. You look up, expecting to see the doctor, but you see Xurkitree looming over you, instead.

Your eyes widen as it starts screeching, and you fight against the cables wrapped around your arms. You can feel electricity pulsing through your veins. You scream and kick, panic building in your body. The more you struggle, the more cables start wrapping around you.

"Let me go!" you scream. The electricity builds in your body, making you feel more and more panicked. Suddenly, a flash of electricity sends you both flying backwards. You land with a thud on the floor of the corridor. Breathing heavily, you prop yourself up on your elbows. You look up, but to your surprise, Xurkitree is nowhere to be seen.

Instead, the doctor and a few nurses are lying on the ground, looking up at you with frightened faces.

Frantically, you look around, searching for Xurkitree, but it really is gone. You look down at your trembling hands, small sparks bouncing off your fingertips. You let out a small cry as you look back up at the others, terror written all over your face.


	11. Panic

You stare out a small window, a few raindrops from last night's storm lingering on the glass. You watch the city grow smaller and smaller as you ride further from the island. After your 'incident' some hours ago, Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet came to the hospital to find out what happened after a frantic phone call was made to their home. You told them your side of the story: that Xurkitree attacked you in the hallway. They had given each other a worried glance, and carefully explained what really happened.

"(Y/N)... we saw the footage from the hall cameras. Xurkitree was never there," Kukui had said.

To put it simply, you freaked out a bit. You thought you were going crazy, but Burnet had told you there might be an explanation. She hypothesized that since you had direct contact with Xurkitree when it abducted you, it was able to enter your subconscious when you almost died, but since you were resuscitated, the encounter was interrupted and left you and Xurkitree with an unnatural connection.

So basically, Xurkitree has a direct line to your brain, making you see it when it isn't really there. Then they had to address the other elephant in the room: the weird electricity that shot out of your body.

So that brings you here, on a boat headed for Aether Paradise. Burnet has some lab equipment here that she wants to use to run some tests. You're sitting below deck with Ash, Pikachu, and Cato, while Kukui and Burnet are up top. You aren't a fan of the water, so you're upsettingly watching the land shrink farther and farther away.

"How are you feeling?" Ash pipes up, trying to break the heavy silence. You turn from the window and look over at him.

"Okay, I guess. I don't know why they're making me wear these, it doesn't really hurt," you say, gesturing to your wrist and ankle braces. Ash smiles slightly.

"Maybe because you almost died," he says in a teasing way. You give a small laugh and shrug.

"That's true," you admit. You look down and see Pikachu playing with Cato, a smile tugging at your lips. You haven't seen Cato play in a while. Then again, with everything going on, how could anyone want to play? Your smile falters as you start thinking about your Dad. Ash notices and speaks up again.

"So.. have you ever been to Aether Paradise?" he questions, trying to distract you. 

"I don't know, but I doubt it," you say, flatly. Ash nods slightly and turns to look at Pikachu and Cato, giving up on his efforts to take your mind off everything happening. You turn back to the window, watching the fast-approaching Aether Paradise.

~~~~~

You follow Professor Burnet down to a lab full of different scientific equipment. You look around nervously, wondering what these machines are meant for.

She asks you to take a seat on a large chair, and you obey. Burnet walks over with a syringe and you clam up. Not wanting to admit another fear, you just look away as she draws some of your blood. You let out the breath you were holding when she walks away, though you feel a little lightheaded. She takes it over to yet another machine you have never seen before, and inserts the vial.

Burnet goes on to take some scans of your body, getting all the information she can on your biology. You wonder if this is all really worth it.

After a while of being poked and prodded, she finally seems satisfied. As she studies her findings, you and the others find something to distract yourselves with. Ash and Pikachu are busy messing with machines they probably shouldn't be touching, and Kukui is sitting in a corner reading a book. You're sitting on the floor, leaning against Cato. You yawn as you stare off into space. Sleep hasn't been something you've gotten much of, lately.

You close your eyes as you lay your head on Cato's back, his soft fur becoming a substitute pillow.

~~~~~

You hear someone calling your name, gently shaking you awake. You open your eyes and see Ash's worried face above you. 

"Burnet found something," he says. You get up, quickly making your way over to her at a computer. As you approach she gives you a small smile, and turns back to the monitor.

"After looking at all the data I collected, I think I figured some things out," she starts. "The human body has naturally occurring electrical currents that run parts of our body, like the nervous system. Our cells conduct this electricity to send signals throughout our bodies and to the brain so we can feel and move. Well, something's different about (Y/N). Looking at her cells, it seems like there's an excess amount of electrical currents present in her body. And when I say 'excess', I mean a lot. Enough to send out a surge like she did in the hospital," she explains. You stare at the images, unsure of what you're hearing.

"It seems like (Y/N) can manipulate this extra electricity inside her cells," Burnet states, glancing over at you. You just stand there, mouth slightly open, trying to wrap your head around this. 

"H-how did this happen?" you stutter, looking down at your hands. Burnet turns back to the computer and pulls some other images up, including one of Xurkitree.

"You said that you have been gone for almost two years, and Ash found you in Ultra Space not too long ago. This means you were in Ultra Space that whole time, in some sort of cryogenic sleep. So, my theory is that Xurkitree was the one who put you to sleep there, and it was trying to fuse with you like Nihilego did with Lusamine," she explains.

You look at her, confused, not sure where she's going with this. You vaguely remember overhearing something about Ash's friend's mom in Ultra Space.

"But, it couldn't fuse with you for some reason. So, being in Ultra Space, the amount of electricity it used on you was absorbed by your body instead of coming and going, like it would have in our normal dimension," she finishes. You stand there, speechless, staring off to the side.

"(Y/N)?" you hear someone say, though it sounds far away. You feel a hand on your shoulder, but you quickly flinch away, taking several steps backwards. Your heart starts racing, and you begin to take rapid breaths. You look up at the others, their worried faces staring back at you. You can't stand the way they look at you anymore. The looks of sympathy and helplessness.

You turn on your heels and run out of the lab, needing to be anywhere but there. The ankle brace makes it a little difficult, but the adrenaline numbs any pain. You can hear them yelling your name, but it only makes you run faster.

_'Why did this have to happen to me?'_


	12. Memories

_The hallways feel endless._

You pass door after door, your heart racing. Your lungs start burning; you won't be able to run for much longer. Your head pounds with every step, and you can feel tears brimming in your eyes. You glance up at the labels on the doors you're passing by.

_Lounge._

_Office 31._

_Lab 28._

_Infirmary._

_Storage._

All the doors have keycard locks on them, so you don't bother to stop and try to open any. Instead, you just push yourself forward. There's no one around. The only sound is the squeak of your shoes against the tile floor. You turn one last corner and quickly come to a stop. You've reached a dead end. Too fatigued to turn back, you slump against the wall. You pull your legs up and wrap your arms around them, burying your head in your knees. You breathe heavily, body aching, while your thoughts race in your head.

 _'If only I could remember,'_ you think, frustrated. You screw your eyes shut, once again digging to remember anything. You focus on the things you have remembered, but still nothing new comes to mind. You groan loudly and lean your head back against the wall, growing angrier and angrier at your failed attempts to find your hidden memories. You know you can find them. You can feel it. It's like they're tucked away in a box, locked up. 

And all you need is the key.

You furrow your eyebrows, recalling what you learned about Xurkitree. More specifically, you think of how Xurkitree held you captive for nearly two years, trying to "fuse" with you, or whatever. Its attempts overloaded your body with electricity. That's where your memories were cut off.

 _'If electricity was a factor in my memories being lost, then maybe it can help me find them,'_ you think to yourself, a plan hatching in your mind. You look down at your hands, focusing on the pulse of electricity in your body. It's faint, but you can still feel it. You clench your fists, straining to bring the electric power up to your fingers. You can feel the tingling sensation in your veins. It gets to be too much, and you groan as you open your fists, muscles loosening. 

_'I can do this,'_ you tell yourself as you shift and hold your hands out once more. Closing your eyes, you reach out for that buzzing in your veins. You can feel it growing in your body, and you focus on sending the currents to your hands. You open your eyes and see your trembling hands glowing slightly. You push harder, forcing more electricity to your fingers, and with one last hard breath, your hands shine brightly with sharp sparks, illuminating the darkened corner you're occupying.

Your eyes widen at the sight. Electricity is bouncing between your fingertips, jumping through your skin and into the air, and then back to your hand. You refocus your attention on your plan and swallow thickly. Your heart races as you nervously bring your hands up to your head.

 _'It's only going to be a small shock,'_ you remind yourself, _'that's it. Nothing dangerous.'_

You poke your pointer fingers out and bring them closer to your temples. You can feel the sparks jump around in your closed palm, making their way up to your extended finger and out into the air.

You take one last deep breath, feeling the heat coming off your hands, and bring your fingers to your temples. A sharp jolt of pain passes through your head and down through your body. You feel all your muscles tense up, locking in place. A sudden darkness swims up from the back of your mind, taking over your senses. You unwillingly let it take over, and unconsciousness takes you from the physical world.

~~~~~

You feel dizzy, and your body slightly aches. Opening your eyes, you see that there's nothing around you, and you can't move, almost like your body is paralyzed. It stays like that for a few moments until everything around you suddenly comes alive. The darkness turns into a blinding white, like someone flipped on a light switch. You squint as your eyes adjust, and the area around you begins to change. A sharp pain jolts through your skull. You want to bring your hand up to clutch your aching head, but you still can't move.

You watch as your surroundings transform, colors swirling and objects materializing. A desk appears, along with a bookcase, a dresser, and a bed. The details of the room start forming, and you realize this isn't just any bedroom. 

It's your bedroom.

This is your bedroom from back home. _Back home in Kalos. In Lumiose City._ Your heart skips a beat as it comes flooding back to you. You don't feel pain anymore. You feel as if your body changed, like it got smaller. You start walking around, picking up random toys, but you're not the one controlling your body. You can feel and see yourself moving, but you're not the one doing it. It's almost as if...

_..._

_...as if you're watching your own memory._

You watch from your younger self's perspective as you go around your room, doing random things. You guess you were around 7 here, and after a few more moments, it melts away to reveal another memory.

Swirls of green and blue materialize into a little backyard. There are trees surrounding you, creating a little sanctuary away from the big city. It's raining hard, but you find yourself outside playing with a Luxio. You feel yourself throw a ball, and you watch as young Cato chases after it, landing in a pile of mud. Your younger self laughs as the rain picks up, thunder rolling in the distance. A warm sensation blossoms in your heart, and you smile. This was only a year or two before you were taken.

"(Y/N) Sycamore! You better get out of that rain right now or your father will be angrier than a Gyarados!" an assistant yells, poking her head out the door. You feel yourself groan and head back towards the door.

"Look at you two! You're soaked and covered in mud!" she complains. "Go get washed up, and try not to let your dad see you like this." Your hearts hurts, but before you can dwell on it for too long, the memory changes once again.

Colors of gray and black come together to form a dark hallway, and your tiny body is making its way down it. You must've been really little in this memory, because you don't really recognize it. You stop before a tall door and watch your chubby arm quietly push it open. Tiptoeing in, your eyes land upon a very tall frame facing away from you. The man is wearing a dark shirt and dark pants, and has black, curly hair. He's face down in a book, and is mumbling quietly to himself. Your breath hitches in your throat, but your old self keeps moving forward. When you get close enough, you feel your small self lunge forward and latch onto the man's leg.

"Gotcha!" you hear your child voice say, trying to scare him. You can feel the man tense up and lift his leg, but then he relaxes when he realizes that it's you.

"You scared me, ma chérie!" he says. Your heart drops when you hear his voice. 

"I've been practicing, Daddy," your little self says as your dad picks you up, and you finally look to his face. He has a bright smile, and his gray eyes gaze at you with a look of pure adoration. 

"Well, you're as sneaky as a Purrloin, mon coeur," he says as he brings your tiny body tight against his. Your little arms wrap around his neck, latching onto some of his black curls. You notice your surroundings start to fade, ready to change to another memory, and you panic.

 _'No! Don't go! Please don't go!'_ you scream internally at no one in particular, frantically trying to keep reliving this memory. It doesn't work. A new memory takes its place, but they start speeding up. Your memories start going faster and faster, until it gets to the point where it's all just a blur in front of you, yet you can still feel all the emotion coming from each one.

You're speechless as you watch your memories playing before you.

_Your life is literally flashing before your eyes._

Then, in the blink of an eye, everything disappears. A few moments pass before your head swims, feeling as if the world was just pulled out from under you. Everything spins and your entire body aches, but you're finally thrown back into consciousness. 

~~~~~

You can feel someone's hand on your shoulder, gently shaking you. Your eyes fly open and you jolt upright, breathing heavily.

"Hey, hey, calm down. It's okay," a voice says. You focus your attention and see Professor Kukui in front of you, along with Pikachu sitting on Cato's back to your left. Ash and Burnet stand behind Kukui, looking down at you with worried faces.

"What happened?" Kukui asks, and you look up at him with wide eyes. Trying to think of the best way to explain what just happened, you swallow thickly.

You open your mouth and just let the words fall out:

"I remember."


	13. Lumiose

Clouds pass by your window as you stare out at the vast ocean beneath you. Wingulls glide through the air, soaking in the warm sun above. The sunlight reflects off the ocean waves, creating a beautiful crystalline shine. You turn away from your small window and lean back in your seat. Earlier in Aether Paradise, you told Ash and the Professors that you remember your home in the Kalos region and that Professor Sycamore is your father. You were expecting them to be thrilled, but instead they were all... confused.

"I wasn't aware that Professor Sycamore had any children," Kukui had said as he glanced over at his wife, "We're not really close friends, but we professors stay in touch to compare research."

"Yeah, I met Professor Sycamore when I travelled around Kalos," Ash piped up, "I never saw you at his lab, and he never said anything about you either."

You had hesitated, not really knowing what to think, but you had asked Ash how long ago his adventures in Kalos were, and when he told you they were fairly recent, you figured your dad just didn't want to talk about his missing daughter. Everyone seemed to go with that, but you could still tell Professor Kukui and Burnet were hesitant.

So now here you are, sitting next to Ash and Kukui on Skarmory Airlines flight #131 headed for Lumiose City in the Kalos region. You're sitting by the window, with Ash to your left in between you and Professor Kukui. Professor Burnet wanted to come more than anything, but she had work obligations that held her back. You two shared your goodbyes before you boarded the plane, promising to keep in touch.

A voice over the intercom system suddenly disrupts your thoughts.

"Good afternoon everyone, this is your Captain speaking. We will be approaching the Lumiose City Airport in about 30 minutes."

In that moment, your stomach drops when you realize what's about to happen. 

You're going home.

Taking a deep breath, you look down at Cato and Pikachu playing with each other at your feet. Watching Cato, your mind wanders to what it's going to be like to be home again.

_'Will it be weird?'_

_'Will any of the lab Pokemon remember me?'_

_..._

_'Will anything ever be the same?'_

These thoughts filtered through your mind, causing knots to form in your stomach. Ash must've noticed, because he tried to make you feel better.

"It's going to be so great to get you back home, (Y/N)," he says, smiling. "You don't have anything to worry about! Right, Professor?" You both look over at Professor Kukui for reassurance, but he's out cold, snoring the ride away. You give Ash a weak smile, trying your best to calm your nerves. You reach down and grab your backpack from underneath the seat, trying to find something to distract yourself with for the remainder of the flight.

~~~~~

Stepping out of the airplane, you take in your surroundings. You see the huge skyline of Lumiose City, people rushing around trying to get where they need to go, and Pokemon wandering everywhere.

"Huh.." you mutter to yourself, a little concerned. 

"What is it?" Ash questions you, apparently noticing your confusion.

"It's just... It's different than I remember," you say quietly.

"Well, maybe you were just too little and you remember it differently," Kukui suggests. You frown and look over at him.

"I was twelve," you retort. Kukui pauses, unsure what to say.

"Oh.. well, um, then maybe it's just been a little too long since you've been here. I'm sure it'll feel the same when you spend a little more time in the city," he quickly recovers.

"Yeah.. you're probably right..." you say quietly, gazing back at the large city as you make your way down the steps. The five of you start making your way into the depths of Lumiose. Kukui takes the lead, followed by Ash and Pikachu, and then you and Cato take up the rear. You look down at Cato, and he seems to be feeling the same way you are.

"Does any of this feel the same to you?" you whisper to him, making sure the others can't hear it. Cato shakes his head, letting out a small sound of worry.

"Yeah, it just feels... different. Like it's a whole different city," you say quietly. As you turn a corner, you see a young girl climbing on a Gogoat at a signpost. Perplexed, you stare at her, and she takes off down the road. Looking at the sign, you can read a label that says "Gogoat Shuttle". 

Is that some sort of... taxi? With wide eyes, you look down to Cato, who has the same expression on his face.

"I definitely don't remember that," you whisper. Ash and Kukui don't seem bothered by it at all, so you keep your mouth shut. After a few more strange minutes, you all turn onto South Boulevard. The Sycamore Pokemon Lab is just down the road. 

The closer you get to the lab, the slower your pace becomes. Your stomach is filled with Butterfrees, and you can't help but feel slightly nauseous. When you finally make it to the front steps, you stop, unable to move any further. Ash and the Professor notice your sudden absence behind them, and they stop to look back at you.

"(Y/N)... you okay?" Kukui asks gently. You don't say anything, you just look at the ground with a worried expression.

"Hey, I know this hard, but just think about your dad in there," Kukui says as he kneels down to eye level, putting both hands on your shoulders. "He's been missing you for almost two years. If he knew you were outside right now, he would be out here faster than an Abra could teleport!" 

You give a small, breathy laugh out of your nose, smiling lightly.

"I know you miss him. You've come so far and done so much to get your memories back," he says gently, "So, what do you say?" 

You look up to his face, tears brimming in the corners of your eyes.

"Let's get you home," he smiles at you. Your head bobs up and down, nodding at his words. You find the courage to walk up the steps and ring the doorbell. You take a deep breath, and the door opens after a few moments to reveal a young woman wearing a white lab coat.

"How can I help you?"

~~~~~

Augustine Sycamore is sitting at a small desk in his laboratory working on his bi-weekly report when he hears a knock on his door. He sluggishly brings his hand to his forehead, rubbing it as he closes his eyes.

"Yes?" he says, drowsily. He hears the door open, but he doesn't move to look at them.

"Uh.. sir? There's someone here to see you," the assistant states. Sycamore brings his hand back down to the desk and looks up at the young woman. He probably looks like a mess, with his unkempt hair and dark, disheveled clothing.

He doesn't care.

"Who is it?" he tiredly asks. 

"I'm not sure, but it seems important," the woman says.

Sycamore sighs as he gets up from his desk and follows the woman out of the laboratory, not bothering to put on his lab coat that's hanging on the door.


	14. Double Trouble

You and Cato stand in the main room of the Sycamore Pokemon Lab while Sophie, the woman who answered the door, went to find the Professor. You had asked Ash and Kukui to wait outside for a couple minutes, just to give you some privacy for the reunion with your dad. As you wait, a horrible feeling gnaws at your gut. 

_Something feels wrong._

_Very wrong._

Looking around, everything feels different. This is supposed to be your home, so why does it feel like you've never been here before? Ever since you got your memories back, there's been something bothering you. Almost like something is... still missing. It feels like you don't belong here. Cato pushes his head against your arm, trying to make you feel better. You look down at him and pet his mane.

"Bonjour!" a voice says from down the hallway. You freeze, heart leaping out of your chest. You're facing away from him, but you can hear his footsteps grow closer. "My name is Professor Sycamore," he says as he stops behind you. Something about his voice sounds different than you remember. 

You finally turn to look at him. He has a bright blue shirt on underneath a clean white lab coat. His dark hair is combed neatly into large curls, and his facial hair is well kept. He's tall and slender; you have to crane your neck up to look him in the eye.

"What can I do for you?" he asks, politely.

_Something isn't right._

You don't see a single hint of recognition on his face when he looks at you, and you start to panic internally. This is not what you were expecting to happen. He shifts awkwardly at your lack of response.

"Um.. can you tell me your name, ma chère?" he questions. Your tongue suddenly feels too large for your mouth, and you struggle to form a response. How is he going to react when you tell him your name?

"(Y/N)," you finally manage to say, holding your breath.

"Well (Y/N), how can I help you?" he says sweetly.

Your heart sinks. 

_He doesn't know who you are?_

You look up at him with wide eyes, your heart hammering in your chest. You have to say something.

"I-um.. This might sound weird, but uh.." you stammer awkwardly, looking down at the floor. "Do you.. um, do you have a daughter?" you manage to ask with a shaky voice, looking back up to him. He looks surprised, and he laughs awkwardly. 

"A daughter? Um.. no, I don't have any children," he says, looking at you curiously.

Now you _really_ panic.

You need to get out of here. Get back to Ash and Professor Kukui.

"Oh, uh, okay. I was just curious. I'm really here because, ah-" you start, trying to think of a cover up, "my-my Luxray, Cato, he has this weird thing on his front leg! Yeah, and uh, I didn't want to bother Nurse Joy because the Pokemon Center was really busy," you stutter. He smiles down at you, oblivious to your lies.

"Well, let me take a look then," he says, kneeling down to lift up Cato's paw. Cato shoots you a look and you shrug, not knowing what else to do.

"Hm, well I don't see anything unusual," he says as he looks back at you.

"Oh really? Well it must have went away then. Sorry for bothering you! Bonsoir!" you quickly tell him as you rush over to the door, Cato hot on your heels. Professor Sycamore didn't even have time to answer before you and Cato were already out the door. You look behind you as you run down the steps to make sure he isn't following, but you collide with a large figure, causing you to fly backwards.

"(Y/N)? What are you doing?" you hear Professor Kukui say as he grabs your arm, helping you up. You look up at him with a panicked expression.

"Something's not right. Something is _not_ right," you mumble over and over.

"Wait, (Y/N), what's going on? Are you okay?" he asks you, his voice laced with worry.

"No, I'm not okay! He didn't recognize me!" you yell frantically.

"What do you mean he didn't recognize you?" Ash says to your right. You shake your head, looking down at the ground, Kukui still holding onto your arms.

"He's not my dad! He looks and sounds just like him, but he's not him!" you cry out, tears threatening to spill.

"I don't understand," you hear Ash say. You look over at him, and then back to Professor Kukui.

"Everything has felt wrong ever since we got here," you start, "The city, the people, and now this? What is going on?!"

"(Y/N), _what happened in there?_ " Professor Kukui asks. Ignoring his question, you rack your brain, trying to think of any explanation for the fact that this is not the Lumiose City you remember, and that the man in there who is supposed to be your father didn't even recognize you.

_Why is everything so different from when you left?_

_Why did everything change?_

In that moment, an idea pops into your brain. 

"What if it _didn't_ change?" you mumble to yourself, but Kukui still heard it.

"What?" he asks, completely lost. You pull your arms out of his grasp and backpedal.

"I need to talk to Burnet," you tell them before dashing off in the opposite direction. You can hear them yelling after you, but you ignore them. Luckily, the Pokemon Center is just down the street, so you don't have to run very far. You bolt through the automatic doors and head for one of the private video chat rooms in the back. You nearly trip over your own feet when you stop in front of the screen. Dialing the number Burnet gave you before you left, you hope to Arceus she picks up. Suddenly, the door opens and Ash, Pikachu, Cato, and Professor Kukui tumble in, gasping for breath.

"(Y/N), you have to stop running off like tha-" Kukui starts, but the other end of the video chat finally picks up.

"(Y/N)! How are y-" she greets, but you don't want to waste any time.

"Professor Burnet, is it possible that Ultra Wormholes could actually connect different worlds, allowing things to pass between them?" you interrupt.

She pauses, staring at you through the screen.

"Uh, well-" she mumbles.

"Like, if something was in one reality, could it travel through an Ultra Wormhole and into Ultra Space, and then from there it travels through another wormhole and ends up in a different reality, instead of going back to the one it came from?" you ramble to her, gesturing wildly with your hands to illustrate it better.

She thinks for a moment, concentrating on your words.

"I've never really thought about it before, but I guess it is possible," she admits.

It feels like the air was just knocked out of you, and you bring a hand to your forehead, pulling your (h/c) hair out of your face.

"Wait, (Y/N), what are you saying?" Kukui asks from behind. You turn your head to look at him, the realization sinking in.

"I think Cato and I are from a different reality."

~~~~~

Augustine Sycamore trudges down the hallway from his lab to the entrance of his home. He brings a hand up to his head and runs his fingers through his messy black hair, trying to make his headache go away. His untucked shirt ruffles with each step, and he nearly trips over his shoes as he shuffles down the hall. When he enters the main room, he sees a small man standing there, waiting for him.

"Bonjour! Are you Professor Sycamore?" the man says, cheerfully.

"Oui, how can I help you?" the Professor asks, apathetically. 

"I have a delivery for you, Monsieur! Lots of new lab equipment, but I need your signature. This is very important stuff," he says, holding out a clipboard with a pen attached.

"Ah yes, of course, how could I forget? I was told this was on its way," Sycamore mumbles, mostly to himself. He reaches out and grabs the clipboard. Picking up the pen, he lazily scribbles his name at the bottom. Wanting to get back to work, he asks one of his assistants to take the equipment down to one of the laboratory rooms. With the noisy sounds of the delivery fading behind him, Augustine Sycamore heads back down the corridor to his lab so he can bury himself in his work once again, keeping his mind from wandering to the things that keep him up at night.


	15. Back to Alola

"A different... reality?" Ash questions, bewildered. You look over to him and give a slight nod.

"That's gotta be it," you say with determination. Professor Burnet clasps her hands together, getting everyone's attention.

"Well, in that case, you all better start making your way back to Melemele Island. We have some work to do," she says with a wink.

"We'll be there as soon as we can," you promise her. Burnet nods as she ends the call, and the screen turns dark. You turn around to face the others, sighing. Professor Kukui walks over to you and gently puts a hand on your shoulder.

"(Y/N)... are you sure? I mean, this is huge. If you're wrong about this, and we send you off to a _different dimension_ , we might not be able to get you back," he says, concerned. You look up at him. You understand the gravity of the situation, but you know this has to be it.

"It all makes sense, Professor. I don't recognize any of Lumiose City because this isn't _my_ Lumiose City. My dad- I mean.. Professor Sycamore didn't recognize me because he never had any kids in this universe," you say to him.

"Yeah, but-"

 _"I don't exist here,"_ you interrupt. He looks to the ground and sighs.

"Alright," he says as he looks back up to you, "then let's do this." He shoots you a smile, and you give one in return.

"We need to get back to the airport and see if we can catch a flight back to Melemele Island," Kukui says as he stands upright, looking over at Ash. You both nod and follow Kukui out of the private room and through the front doors of the Pokemon Center. Cato walks next to you, his presence comforting. You look around at the strange city. Everything feels so different now, knowing that you're not supposed to be here.

You all walk in silence, partly because no one really knows what to say. A few minutes pass before you notice a certain building coming up ahead. Your heart starts to race and you try not to look at it, but how could you not? Your pace slows as you walk by the Sycamore Pokemon Lab, a lump forming in your throat. You stare up at the building. It looks so different from your home, even though it's in the same spot.

"(Y/N)?" you hear Ash say. You turn and look ahead of you to see that Ash and the Professor have stopped, noticing your absence.

"I'm coming," you say flatly. You turn your head and take in the sight of the lab one last time before continuing forward, catching up to Ash and Kukui.

~~~~~

You've been on the plane for a while now. You find yourself staring out your window once again, watching the moon reflect off the water. You aren't really focusing on the natural scenery, so your mind wanders to every nook and cranny your brain has to offer. You wonder what else in this world is different from your own. Back in your world, you never really travelled. You mostly stayed in Lumiose City, though sometimes your dad would take you to different places around Kalos for fun. You never travelled outside the Kalos region, however, so there's really no way of telling how the other regions here differ from the ones where you're from.

Your thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a finger poking your arm.

"Whatchya thinkin' about?" Ash says to you with his usual bubbly attitude. You smile at him, thinking of the best way to convey your thoughts. There is one thing that's been bothering you for some reason.

"I wonder why, in this world, my da- uh, Professor Sycamore.. never had a kid," you think out loud, "Like, so many other things are only slightly different, so why did my entire existence disappear in this world instead of him having a daughter slightly different from me, or maybe a son?"

Ash glances away, not knowing what to say. You look back out the window and sigh, not really expecting an answer anyway. You decide to change the subject to something lighter before it gets too awkward.

"Do you think the Alola we're going to now is different from the Alola in my world?" you say to him. Ash looks back to you, smiling a little.

"I'm not sure," he admits, "have you ever been to Alola back in your world?" he asks. You shake your head.

"No, I've never been outside of Kalos. Until now, of course," you laugh softly. Ash looks surprised.

"Really? Wow, so seeing Alola must have been all new to you," he says. You nod, giving a small yawn.

"What about you? You said you've been to Kalos before, but where else?" you ask, curious. Ash grins as he recalls all his adventures he's had in different regions.

"Well, you know I'm from Pallet Town in the Kanto region, but after exploring Kanto I went to Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and now here I am in Alola!" Ash lists off. You stare at him for a moment, shocked that this boy has been to so many different places when you've barely even left Kalos. And you're older than him!

"Wow, you must have some good stories," you laugh. He nods his head, opening his mouth to start telling one, but he gets interrupted by the pilot announcing our arrival in Alola.

"Well, maybe some other time," Ash yawns, then laughs as Pikachu nuzzles his head into his neck. Professor Kukui stirs next to you two, stretching as he wakes up. He looks over at you and Ash, yawning.

"Burnet should be outside, she said she would meet us here to take us home," he says. You nod and grab your backpack, reaching down to gently shake Cato awake. He paws at your hand, protesting.

"C'mon bud, I'm tired too, but we need to get off the plane," you say, trying to get him up. Cato finally rolls over and stretches, groaning as he sits up. You pat his head as he follows you out the door and down the steps. You feel the warm Alolan air brush against your cheeks as you make your way onto the ground. You spot Burnet leaning against a jeep and she waves you all over. When you get close, she scoops you up into a tight hug.

"It's good to see you again, (Y/N)," she says.

"It's good to see you too," you laugh, smiling into the hug. You all pile into the jeep and start making your way back to the Professors' house. You, Ash, Cato, and Pikachu are in the back while Burnet and Kukui are up front. You lean against Cato's large frame, your head resting against his soft fur. The wind brushes gently through your hair as you look up. The stars shine brightly against the dark sky, and the large moon illuminates the trees below.

Although this isn't where you thought you'd be tonight, you feel at peace. You can't help but let your eyes flutter shut as the sound of waves against the beach below lull you to sleep.


	16. The Visitor

You inhale sharply, opening your eyes, but only to be met with darkness. The sweat on your skin makes your (h/c) hair stick to your forehead. Your knuckles turn white from your grip on the sheets. You find yourself laying in your bed in the Professors' house. You bring a hand to your forehead, rubbing your temples, trying to shake off whatever just happened. It seems like Xurkitree appears in your mind more frequently when you're asleep. It makes it a lot more challenging to get a good night's rest without having to worry about being attacked by a creature made of cables and zip ties.

You glance to your left at the small alarm clock. It's still pretty early, but there's no point in trying to get any more sleep. You swing your legs over the side of the bed and stretch. Cato stirs at the base of the bed, but doesn't get up. You stand up and head for the door. 

You slip out of your bedroom and walk silently to the front door. You try your best not to wake anyone: especially Ash, since he sleeps on the loft in here and not in a bedroom. You crack the door open and quietly exit, sighing as you sit down on the porch's top step. Your head aches and your whole body is sore. You close your eyes, trying to ignore the pain. You feel the soft Alolan breeze brush against your face, and the smell of the ocean wafts up from the beach.

You breathe in the crisp morning air, listening to the sound of Pokemon around you. Your muscles relax, enjoying the quiet sounds of nature. Your small moment of peace was soon interrupted by the sound of a door pushing open behind you. Glancing over your shoulder, you see Cato sit down beside you. You smile at him and put a hand on his back, feeling his soft fur between your fingers.

"Quite a mess we've fallen into, huh?" you mumble. Cato gives a small sound of agreement, looking over at you.

"I've been thinking," you start, "If we find a way to go back to our own world, does that mean we won't be able to see Ash, Pikachu, and the Professors ever again?" You look over at Cato, and he stares back at you with sad eyes.

"I don't want to leave them behind," you say quietly, "but I don't think we have a choice if we want to go home."

You lean against Cato's tall frame, wrapping your arm around him in a hug. He leans into your side, and you rest your head against his. He's always been there for you, and you've always been there for him. Your mind wanders to the times when you were little and you would hide from the scary scientists your dad worked with. Cato would stand guard at your hiding spot, making sure you felt safe, even if there wasn't a real threat. You smile at these memories, and you wonder how much you've missed out on by being kidnapped. You two sit there, watching the sunrise, until the door behind you opens once again. You and Cato turn and see Professor Kukui standing there.

"How long have you two been out here?" he asks, yawning. You shrug, not really knowing for sure.

"Well, better get up and around, we're heading to Aether Paradise in a little bit. Burnet thinks she found a way to send you home," he says. You look over at Cato with wide eyes, and then back to the professor.

"Really?" you ask him cautiously. He smiles down at you two.

"She told me she has an idea," he says, cryptically. You and Cato stand up, but your head spins and the world feels like it was pulled out from under you. You clutch your head and regain your balance, wincing at the growing headache. Professor Kukui grabs your arm, holding you up.

"Whoa, are you alright (Y/N)?" he asks you, concerned. You brush it off, not wanting him to worry.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. I just have a killer headache, that's all," you mutter. He gives you a look, obviously not believing you, but he decides to leave it for now. You follow him inside so you can gather your things, but you pause. The thought suddenly crosses your mind that this could possibly be the last time you and Cato are ever here. If this plan of Burnet's works, then you'll probably never step foot here again. The thought makes you slightly upset, but you push the feelings down into the back of your mind, not wanting to dwell on it.

~~~~~

When you finally arrive at Aether Paradise later that morning, you're about as nervous as a long-tailed Glameow in a room full of rocking chairs. The six of you start heading to Burnet's lab, and you keep fidgeting with your sleeve, unable to keep still. Ash picks up on this and tries to calm you down.

"Hey, everything's going to work out! You'll be home in no time," he says. You glance over at him and give a small smile.

"I know, it's just... now that we know what's going on and we _maybe_ found a way to get us back, I'm really nervous. I mean, I haven't been home for almost two years. What if he doesn't care if I ever come back?" you ask quietly, referring to your dad.

"(Y/N), from the stories you've told us, there's no way your dad would ever stop looking for you," Ash says with confidence. You nod, looking at the ground.

"Alright, here we are," Burnet says, unlocking the door. You all file through the door, but as you walk in last, a wave of nausea hits you. You close your eyes for a moment until the feeling passes. No one seems to notice, so you just keep walking.

"So, (Y/N), when we were here last time and I studied your blood and anatomy, I saw something else that was a little strange, but I didn't think much of it at the time," Burnet starts, "When you went to Kalos, I studied it a little more closely. It seems that your body's energy signature is slightly different from ours."

Staring at her blankly, she continues.

"Now, my plan is to scan your energy signature and trace it throughout Ultra Space to find the wormhole that has the same energy signature as you. Then, we enter the coordinates and open a direct wormhole to your world. You'll be able to walk right through and straight to your reality," she explains. You nod slowly, staring at the ground. 

"So, are you ready?" she asks. You look up and see everyone staring at you, waiting for your answer. You take a deep breath and nod once more.

"Yeah, let's do it."

Professor Burnet directs you to stand inside a sleek looking tube. The door slides closed, trapping you inside. You stand as still as possible as the walls light up with bright colors. The piercing light hurts your eyes as they move all around you. After a few long, torturous minutes, the lights finally turn off and the door opens. Stepping out, your eyes readjust to the darker room, and you sway a little. Ash grabs onto your arm, helping you stand.

"You okay?" he asks. You nod, holding a thumbs up.

"Yeah, just a little dizzy," you say. Ash guides you over to the couch by the door and helps you sit down.

"You did great, (Y/N)," Burnet says, "Now, I'm going to try and find a match to your energy signature. I don't know how long it's going to take, though. Ultra Space is presumably infinite."

You nod again and close your eyes, another wave of nausea hitting you. It's stronger this time, and you can feel it coming up your throat. You quickly stand up and run a couple feet to the bathroom door, throwing it open and sticking your head right in the toilet. Your stomach empties its contents, making your muscles feel weak. You flush the toilet and sit back on the floor, the cool tile against your hot skin.

"(Y/N), are you okay? What happened?" Professor Kukui says from behind you. Humming in response, you stand up on shaky legs. 

"There's some extra toothbrushes under the sink for overtime in the lab you can use," Burnet offers. You thank her and close the door so you can get washed up. When you exit, Kukui comes up to you and puts the back of his hand against your forehead.

"Geez, you're burning up!" he says, removing his hand.

"We need to get you some-" Burnet starts, but she's cut off by an aggressive beeping sound. You all look towards the computer monitor and see two green words flashing across the screen:

_Coordinates Located_

Burnet looks over at you with concern.

"(Y/N), we don't have to do this right now, we can wait," she suggests, but you're not having it.

"No, I want to do it now," you say. She nods hesitantly and walks over to the device next to her computer. She enters the coordinates from the screen and the machine starts up with a loud whirring sound. A ray of colors shoots out from the machine and creates a rip in the air. The rip grows wider until it becomes a hole filled with beautiful colors. The wormhole starts sucking in air, blowing papers everywhere and making it hard to hear. You were too busy admiring the sight to notice Burnet's concerned look.

"Something isn't right, look at the flow of the wormhole!" she shouts over the wind. You shift your focus on the patterns inside. The colors are flowing in the opposite direction that they normally do.

"It's like the flow is backwards!" you shout back, and Burnet nods. She looks down at her screen for a moment before her eyes widen.

"I think we accidentally opened a one-way portal, and we're going the wrong direction!" she yells. The portal starts making all sorts of strange noises, and none of them sound good. You cover your ears, the shrill sound of ripping a hole in reality pierces your eardrums.

"Shut it off!" Ash yells. Professor Burnet types frantically on her computer, but the wormhole stays open.

"It's not working, I can't close it!" she shouts. The wormhole starts shining brighter and brighter and you shield your eyes from the light. A loud crack rips through the air, and then the blinding light is gone. The machine makes a low whirring sound as it shuts off, and the room is filled with an eerie silence.

"Is everyone okay?" Kukui asks, "Burnet? Ash? (Y/N)?" The other two respond, but you stay silent, staring at the spot where the wormhole closed.

"(Y/N)?" Kukui says again. You ignore him. You're too focused on the figure that sits on the floor where the portal was. Your words catch in your throat as you try and call out to them. You swallow thickly.

...

"Dad?"


	17. The Reunion

The man is facing away from you. He's laying on his back, propped up on his elbows. His black, disheveled hair sticks out wildly in different directions, and his clothes are wrinkled and unkempt. His dark colored shirt is partially tucked in, causing the other half to hang down unevenly to his side, while his pants are crumpled and disproportionate. His movements stopped when you spoke out to him. You can't see his face, but you can imagine the expression he's wearing.

"Dad?" you repeat, a tremor in your voice. You can see him visibly tense when you speak. He slowly turns his head, stopping just before he looks over his shoulder at you, hesitating. A moment or two passes before he finally glances behind him. The second he meets your eyes, he scrambles to his feet. His eyes are wide, and his mouth is slightly hanging open. Your heart feels like it's going to jump out of your chest. He takes a step towards you, hesitant to go any further.

"(Y/N)?" he whispers. His voice is hoarse and cracked. You smile lightly and can see his eyes gloss over like he's about to cry. He takes a few more steps and shakily kneels down in front of you, looking into your eyes. He slowly reaches a hand up to your face and runs his thumb against your cheek. His eyes scan your face, taking in every feature that he last saw almost two years ago. He looks back to your eyes, staring at the beautiful colors that he could never forget.

_"Ma chérie,"_ he mutters. A tear falls from the corner of his eye as he lets out a breathy laugh, his face breaking into a smile. He grabs your shoulders and pulls you into his chest, his long arms engulfing you into a tight hug. You return the gesture, wrapping your much smaller arms around his neck. You can feel his tears against your shirt as he buries his head in your shoulder. You hear him mutter your name over and over as he puts a hand on the back of your head, pulling you tighter against him. You can feel your own tears running down your face, and you can't help but grin like an idiot.

You don't know how long you two sat on the ground like that, but when he finally pulls away, Cato comes bouncing up to him.

"Cato!" he exclaims as your Luxray pounces on him. Your dad strokes Cato's mane, laughing. "Look how much you've grown," he says as he gets up, still petting Cato's fur. He looks back down at you, but this time with a slightly pained expression, tears still evident in his eyes. "W-where.. where have you been?" he quietly asks. You look to the side, sheepishly.

"It's a long story."

~~~~~

After introducing your dad to Ash and the Professors, you had told him everything that happened in the last two years. You told him about how you couldn't remember anything at first, but when you fell off a cliff, your memories started returning. You told him about your theory on Xurkitree taking you into Ultra Space and the interrupted "death encounter" that still haunts your mind, allowing Xurkitree to appear in your head at any moment. You also told him about your ability to harness the excess amount of electricity generated in your cells. You told him about how you traveled to Kalos to find him but he didn't recognize you, which lead you to the realization that you aren't from this reality.

Finally, you told him about your efforts to open a direct wormhole to take you home, which didn't really go as planned.

"So, apparently, direct wormholes to other realities can only be opened in one direction, and we accidentally opened the one to your reality backwards, bringing Professor Sycamore here instead of sending (Y/N) there," Burnet explains. You look up to your dad and stifle a laugh. It looks like his brain just exploded from all of this. He hears your small giggle and looks down at you, nudging your shoulder and smiling.

"So how can we get back home?" your dad asks the Professors.

"We're going to have to find a way to open the wormhole in the right direction, but it could take some time," Burnet admits.

"Well, any chance we could just stay here instead of trying to find a way back?" you joke, eliciting laughs from the others. In that moment, a sharp pain racks through your skull. You wince, bringing your hand up to your forehead.

"(Y/N)? What's wrong, ma chérie?" your dad questions. You hold a hand up, waving away his worry.

"Ah, it's nothing, I've just been getting these killer headaches," you tell him. It's not a total lie, you are having really bad headaches. You just chose to leave out the parts about feeling nauseous and how your muscles are aching.

"(Y/N), I think you should sit down," Professor Kukui suggests. You shake your head.

"No I'm.. I'm fine, I promise," you stutter, swaying a little bit. As the headache worsens, you can hear their voices swimming around your head, barely able to make out any words.

"...right before-"

"...nauseous..."

"- should lay down..."

You can feel yourself being guided onto the couch from earlier. When you sit down, you curl up into the soft material, cradling the back of your head with your hands and bringing your knees up to your elbows. Unsure of what's going on, you try and speak, but this only throws you into a coughing fit. You cover your hand with your mouth, not wanting to cough everywhere, but when you pull your hand away, you can see little speckles in your palm.

_Is that... blood?_

Before anyone can say anything, a sharp crack pierces through the air. Startled, everyone turns to see a brightly colored wormhole closing behind two unknown figures. Through your squinted eyes, you can see they're dressed in strange uniforms of white and blue, and their skin is a pale gray.

"Who are you?" someone beside you demands. You wish they wouldn't be so loud. It's making your headache worse.

"I am Phyco, captain of the Ultra Recon Squad, and this is Dulse," you hear one of them say, "We are part of an organization that has been tasked with the protection and preservation of Ultra Space."

You cough dryly once more, not trying to draw attention to yourself, but you can feel their eyes shift towards you.

"(Y/N) Sycamore, you have been found to contain UB DNA inside your blood. Your human DNA has fused with an Ultra Beast's, and therefore your existence is upsetting the balance of Ultra Space. It is our duty to find the source of the instability and neutralize it. We hope you understand."


	18. The Diagnosis

Your stomach drops as the words leave his mouth. You can feel your dad's hand softly grab your arm as he steps in front of you, protectively.

_Neutralize?_

_Does he mean..?_

"What do you mean 'neutralize'?" Ash questions, his innocence showing.

"Terminate, eliminate, eradicate, nullify," Dulse lists with a metallic voice. Ash has a confused look on his face, not understanding.

"(Y/N) cannot live anymore. Her existence is destructive," Phyco says coldly. Ash looks stunned; fear is evident on his face. Professor Kukui puts his arm in front of Ash, protectively pushing him behind. Your dad's grip tightens as he shields you from their view. This movement unfortunately catches the attention of one of the men. He looks over at you, noticing your attempts to remain hidden. You peek over your dad's arm, looking up at the man, and he stares deep into your eyes. You can't see any life in them. They look cold and dead.

"We would very much appreciate your cooperation," he says, lacking emotion. Cato lets out a low growl from beside you, but the men pay no attention to him.

"Will you come quietly?" Dulse asks you flatly. You tense up as their cold eyes bore into your skin.

"She's not going anywhere," your dad says, answering for you. Phyco and Dulse straighten up, their facial expressions hardening.

"(Y/N) _will_ be taken back to Ultra Megalopolis for extermination," Dulse says with a lower voice.

"Over my dead body," your dad spits back, holding onto you even tighter. Phyco stares at him with a dead look in his eye.

"We do not wish to increase the death toll in order to preserve the balance, but we will do whatever it takes," Phyco says, his voice laced with venom. In that moment, a huge jolt of pain shoots through your head, causing you to cry out as your legs give out from underneath you. Clutching your head, you curl up into a ball on the floor. You can hear your dad frantically calling your name, but it sounds like it's underwater. You feel his hands on your arm, trying to give you some sort of comfort. Your heart races, and with each beat, a throbbing pain beats through your skull. You groan, holding your head in your hands. Your entire body starts aching. Everything feels hot. It's like your blood is literally boiling in your veins. The hot pain spreads all over the inside of your body, making you cry out as your limbs convulse, your back arching up off the ground.

"She's farther along than we initially thought," one of the men state coldly. Cato whines and nudges his head against your hair.

"What did you do to her?!" you hear Kukui shout, causing an extra jolt to stab through your skull.

"Nothing," you hear a metallic voice say, "This is the work of the universe fixing itself."

"I swear to Arceus if you don't tell us what's going on I'm going to kick your a-" 

You cry out and interrupt your dad's threat, the searing pain blossoming in your body worsening.

"Ultra Beast DNA is incredibly toxic to any creature that comes into contact with it. The longer it sits in (Y/N)'s bloodstream, the more it poisons her," you hear Phyco roughly explain. "The added problem of excess electricity in her veins from UB-03 Lighting, aka 'Xurkitree', just makes things worse for her, since the human body isn't capable of withstanding that much electricity," Phyco says, "the combination of the two is basically burning her body from the inside out."

"If (Y/N) comes with us, she will be neutralized quickly and painlessly. But, even if she doesn't, she will still die. And trust me when I say it will be a _very_ long and painful end," Dulse says, letting the last few words roll off his tongue slowly for emphasis.

"Plus, the longer you wait it out, the more unbalanced the universes becomes. Eventually, it will get to the point where she will cause permanent damage, even after she dies," Phyco adds. You take in his words, trying to wrap your head around them. It's weird listening to someone explain in great detail how you are going to die. You open one eye to see your dad above you, clutching your arm. He looks down and you can see tears brimming in his glossy eyes. Despite the pain, you sit up, leaning on one arm to keep your balance. You cough a few times, feeling your dad's arms around your shoulders. You look up at the men, wincing.

"What kind of damage will I cause?" you sputter. Phyco looks down at you, coldly.

"Enough to change the way of life for everybody," he starts, "Ultra Space will become unstable, causing realities to crack, destroying basic laws of physics, and disrupting nature. People and Pokémon will perish because of _**you**_."

You look to the side, guilt wracking your mind.

"And there's no way to get it out of her?" your dad pleads, his voice cracking at the end.

"Negative. If there was, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Dulse states. You look up to your dad. He's staring at the ground, mouth slightly open, and his eyebrows are furrowed. He's desperately trying to find a way out of this that doesn't involve your death.

"What if something stronger is injected into her blood to cure the poisonous DNA?" he asks, his scientific mind already searching for some way to save you. The two men falter for a moment, but quickly return to their confident stances.

"It would have to be incredibly strong, more powerful than an Ultra Beast, and finding that would take too long. We are already out of time," Phyco says.

"But-" your dad starts, however, he's interrupted by a shrill whine and a powerful gust that appears out of nowhere. You look up to see a wormhole open behind Phyco and Dulse. The gust strengthens and your dad's grip on you starts to loosen, pushing him away. The two men make their way towards you, unfazed. Looking over your shoulder, you see the wind push your dad away, tearing you from his grasp. 

"(Y/N)!" you hear your dad shout. A cold set of hands grabs you under your armpits, picking you up. Dulse roughly carries you in his arms, turning to exit through the wormhole. You can hear everyone calling out to you from behind. Tears prick the corners of your eyes. You flail weakly in his arms, unable to break free. You lift your head and reach out behind you.

"Dad!" you scream out, frightened. You can see him and Cato frantically trying to push against the wind, along with the others, but it's too strong.

"(Y/N)! I'll find y-" he says, but his words are cut off. Everything spins, and it feels like you're falling. The wormhole colors are blinding, and the intense pressure makes everything worse. The burning pain becomes too much, and you can feel yourself slipping away. The colors bleed around you, and the familiar cold of the unconscious wraps around your mind, pulling you into the darkness.


	19. Beginning of the End

Augustine Sycamore paces back and forth across the cluttered floor, one hand running through his dark hair, while the other is placed on his hip. Cato is sitting beside him, watching his movements.

"How long is this going to take?" he mutters impatiently.

"It should be done soon, we just need to be patient," Burnet says, trying to calm him down. Unfortunately, it doesn't help much.

"What if they've already done something to her? What if we get there and it's too late? What if-"

"Professor, you can't torture yourself with 'what ifs'. You're just going to have to trust that she can make it until we get there," Kukui starts, "(Y/N) is strong. She's been through a lot, but right now she needs you. She needs you to be calm so you can help her."

"You don't understand, there's something else about (Y/N) that you don't know," Sycamore starts. However, his words are drowned out from the shrill, computerized beeps that sound off behind them.

"The coordinates," Burnet says as she types a few more things into the computer, "We just need to start it up." As she breaks off towards the machine, Kukui turns to Ash, who has been extremely silent throughout all of this.

"Hey, Ash? Are you alright?" Kukui asks, worried. Ash has never been this quiet.

"Yeah I'm okay," he says with a small smile, "Pikachu and I are just worried about (Y/N)." Kukui nods, looking at the ground.

"Yeah, we all are," he agrees. Kukui looks at Ash and kneels so he's eye level with the young boy, putting his hand on Ash's shoulder. "Ash," he starts, "I don't know if you should go. It might be better if you stay here," the Professor suggests.

"What? No way!" Ash counters, "(Y/N) needs our help, and I'm not going to sit back and wait for you to bring her here!"

Kukui draws back, looking awkwardly at the ground.

"It's just... I'm not sure what's going to happen in there," he admits, looking back at Ash, "I don't want you to see things that you don't need to see."

"You don't need to worry about me," Ash says, "We're going to get (Y/N) back, and everything will be fine."

Kukui sighs, nodding as he looks to the side.

"Alright then, just stay close to me, okay?" the Professor asks. Ash nods, smiling. Kukui returns the smile and ruffles Ash's hat, eliciting a laugh from Ash and Pikachu.

"It's ready," Burnet says, drawing everyone's attention. The six of them all step forward to the machine as it whirs to life, creating a wind current that blows through the room. "I made sure to fix everything we did wrong when we tried to send (Y/N) home, so this should work!" Burnet shouts over the noise.

"Anybody else worried about the 'should'?" Kukui jokes, earning a glare from his wife. He sheepishly looks away, rubbing the back of his head. The machine erupts, spewing a mass from its center. The mass rips a hole in the air right in front of them, causing the wind to pick up speed. Colors blend together and flow gracefully in a single direction.

"It's stable!" Burnet shouts.

"Everyone remember the plan?" Kukui yells to the others. Everyone nods in agreement, bracing themselves for what's to come.

"Let's go!" Ash pipes up, as well as a small shout from Pikachu. Sycamore puts his hand on Cato's head, taking a deep breath.

"We're coming, (Y/N)," he whispers. They all step into the wormhole as the computer flashes two words behind them:

**Ultra Megalopolis**

~~~~~

A wave of nausea hits you as you jerk awake, propping yourself up on your elbows. The room swims as you look around. You screw your eyes shut, trying to make it stop.

_'Geez, why do I pass out all the time?'_ you ask yourself. Lying back down, you slowly reopen your eyes, trying to prevent the room from spinning again. You notice that you're lying on some sort of bed in a small room. A door is visible in front of you that's heavily barred. The room is relatively empty, with nothing else besides a small window at the top of the far wall. You can hear faint voices outside of your door. Straining to listen, you can hear the same men from earlier talking about you. More specifically, how they're going to "dispose" of you.

Laying back down, you shudder. Normally, you would try and find some way to escape, but you're too weak to do anything. A dry coughing fit comes up your throat, and you bring your hand up to cover your mouth. When you can finally breathe again, you can see drops of blood in your palm, causing you to panic. Not knowing what to do, you wipe your hand on your shirt, probably increasing how terrible you look right now. A shiver runs down your spine as you curl up into a ball, goosebumps erupting all over your arms and legs.

_'Dad.. where are you?'_ you desperately call out in your mind, wanting nothing more than to just be with him again. Your clammy hands brush your hair out of your face, sweat lingering on your fingertips. You clear your throat, wincing at the pain from dehydration.

_'I don't want to die alone,'_ you think. Reaching down, you feel your backpack against the bed. You unzip it and weakly pull out the one thing that helped connect you to your dad. Pulling the Mega Evolution book close to your chest, you groan at the ache in your muscles. It feels like your body is shutting down. You close your eyes and breathe in the scent of the old book. Memories flood your mind, recalling the times your dad would read to you, or when he would brush work aside so he could help you with whatever you needed, no matter how small. He even cancelled meetings and appointments so he could play with you and Cato. He never liked pawning you off to one of his assistants. He's your father, and he wanted to make sure you knew that he loved you with every fiber of his being.

He would do anything for you.

A tear escaped your eye as you pulled the book tighter, trying to get as close to the memory of your dad as possible. You can feel your heartbeat slowing, and you let more tears escape down your cheek. Your breathing becomes ragged and your body feels like dead weight. Clutching the book with all the energy you have left, you prepare yourself for what comes next. However, you suddenly feel a strange sensation in your veins. It feels warm, and it spreads all over your body, easing the pain. You whimper at the relief, yet confused as to what it is. Unfortunately, the feeling is short-lived. The pain returns, but you feel... different? 

_'What just happened?'_

You don't have much time to dwell on it because the wall to your right suddenly crumbles to pieces. A figure rushes in, engulfing you in a tight hug.

"Dad?" you croak out, your voice strained.

"We have to get you out of here, ma chèrie," your dad says, holding you close to him, "Can you walk?"

You nod and he grabs your hand, pulling you behind him.

"Then let's go."


	20. The Rescue

Chaos.

Everything is complete and utter chaos.

The Ultra Recon Squad is all over the place, firing at you. They don't want to just capture you, they want you dead, and they'll gladly kill the others if they get in the way. As you run, you can see things change the way Phyco described them back in the lab. Tremors shake the ground and basic laws of physics are being ignored. The buildings around you crumble, only to fall upwards instead of down. Strong winds appear out of nowhere, and the temperature feels like it dropped at least 20 degrees. Your dad is in front of you, pulling you along so you don't fall behind, and Professor Kukui leads your party, taking you back to Burnet and Ash. Cato runs at your side, helping you along.

You can hear shouts from the Ultra Recon Squad not too far behind, their high-tech weapons just barely missing as they fire at your bodies. You stumble a few times, causing Sycamore to look back at you. Your legs are aching. You just want to lie down and sleep. You can tell your condition is worsening. It feels like everything inside of you is slowly stopping, but it also feels like something inside of you isn't letting that happen.

Suddenly, you cry out as hot pain burns through your veins. Your dad looks back at you again, trying to pull you along faster. You feel a painful buzzing in your chest, and before you had time to react, electricity painfully sparks out of your entire body. Professor Sycamore pulls his hand back, recoiling from the sudden shock. The sparks shine brightly as you collapse to the ground, pain tearing through your body.

"(Y/N)? What's happening?!" you hear your dad ask, panicking at the sight.

"It's the electricity from Xurkitree," Professor Kukui says, "There's too much, it's discharging, just like Phyco said back at the lab."

Cato leans down to you, using his mane to absorb some of the electricity. After a few excruciating moments, the pain subsides, along with the sparks. You gasp out for air, uncurling from your fetal position. Your dad reaches down and grabs your hand, pulling you up.

"Are you okay?" he asks. But before you can answer, a shot from an Ultra Recon Squad member goes right over your head, just barely missing. You flinch, turning to look at him as your dad pulls you away, running. The four of you weave throughout the streets of Ultra Megalopolis, dodging the Ultra Recon Squad, trying to get back to the others so you can get out of here. A particularly strong tremor suddenly causes your shaky legs to give out beneath you, your hand slipping from your dad's grasp. He turns around quickly and reaches for your hand, but a thunderous crack from behind you causes your reflexes to turn and look. 

Your body is completely frozen as you watch the fabric of space literally tear apart right in front of your eyes, opening a hole into another universe. You stare into it, seeing a top view into their world, as if you're in the sky. As you look down, the air feels like it's knocked out of you as you watch their universe being destroyed. The sky around you is a dark red, and the ground is completely flooded. You can see people bobbing in the water, trying to stay alive. Tears well up in your eyes. You can hear the screams of people and Pokémon as their homes are torn apart and loved ones are lost to the unnatural disasters that are falling upon their world. Someone grabs your arms, tearing your attention away and pulling you upwards, spinning you around. Your dad looks down at you with wide eyes.

"We have to keep moving, ma chèrie," he says, his voice laced with fear. You nod as he pulls you forward, and you take one last glance behind at the hole, tears staining your cheeks.

_I'm sorry._

You can see more realities coming into view through cracks in space that you run past. You don't have time to look in them, but you can almost feel the pain and sadness coming from each universe.

_It's all my fault._

You finally reach the outer parts of the city and see the citizens running frantically from the destruction, trying to avoid getting caught up in the crumbling buildings. The four of you try to blend into the crowd, but it's not easy since the people who live here look nothing like you. Your body aches as you push forward, not wanting to be trampled by the masses. As you look around at the other people, you spot a familiar black, cable-like arm behind someone's head. Your heart races as more of these arms appear out of nowhere, floating around. It looks like they aren't even attached to anything. Everyone around you starts melting away, their small forms being replaced by cold, metal ones. Tons of Xurkitree have appeared around you, their lanky arms floating everywhere, grasping at you.

_'I have to be hallucinating,'_ you think to yourself, _'This isn't real, no one else is reacting to this.'_

You close your eyes trying to block everything out, just focusing on breathing and running. You can still hear the electric hum of the Xurkitrees around you, but you grit your teeth and squeeze your dad's hand.

_It's not real._

Goosebumps erupt all over your body as one of the cable-arms brushes up against your skin.

_It's not real._

You whimper silently as the cold metal wraps around your waist, with more arms reaching out to wrap around your limbs.

_It's not real._

You feel your dad pulling you into a different direction, calling your name softly. His hand squeezes yours tightly, and the feeling of Xurkitree's arms around you vanishes. You open your eyes to see Ash and Burnet in a small alleyway just ahead. Your dad basically drags you the rest of the way, and when you finally reach them, you collapse. You lay on your back, wheezing, trying to get any air to fill your lungs. Your airways feel constricted, and it's hard to breath. Your body is losing the fight. 

With terrible timing, electricity once again discharges itself from your body. You cry out, rolling over onto your side from the sudden pain. Tears start to well up in your eyes as Cato nudges his head into the crook of your neck, absorbing it once again. When the pain subsides, you breathe heavily and look up, tears streaming down your face. Oh what a sight you must be right now.

"I can't do this anymore!" you cry, pleading for the problem to somehow magically disappear. Your dad kneels down, taking your hand in his.

"I know, I know mon coeur, but you just need to hold on a little longer until we get you out of here," he says to you.

"Yeah, um, about that," Ash says from behind as Burnet clears her throat.

"While I was getting the machine set up, the building next to us just.. fell apart," Burnet says quietly, "Ash, Pikachu, and I are fine, but the machine wasn't so lucky."

She gestures to her side as your eyes all land on a pile of scrap metal.

"So we're stuck here?" Sycamore says with a defeated tone. Their words fade out in your mind as you focus on something suddenly growing in the background. A small ripple behind them grows larger as colors fill the surrounding air, giving off a low hum. You flinch as the ripple opens, a large, white creature jumping through. It lands with a thud right behind your group, causing all of them to shut up and quickly turn around, eyes wide. The creature has a tall, white mane with yellow and orange marks. The top of its head is a dark blue, with a sort of galaxy look to it. Its light blue eyes stare deep into yours, as if it knows who you are.

"Solgaleo," Ash says from beside you.


	21. Time to Save the World

You're frozen momentarily, unable to react due to the shock of being in the presence of a Legendary Pokémon. You stare up at this large beast in awe as it towers over your group with an intimidating glare. You can feel heat radiating off its body, warming your skin from the cold temperatures of Ultra Megalopolis.

"Solgaleo, can you help us?" Ash pleads as he steps toward the Legendary. Solgaleo doesn't move, it simply stares into your eyes, like it's reading you somehow. You shy away behind your dad, unsure of what Solgaleo is going to do. Then, the beast moves forward, slowly making its way over to you laying on the ground. Cato moves closer to you, warily watching the giant Pokémon get closer. You strain to see its face as it towers over you, its eyes staring deep into yours. Your heart races, but as you stare into its eyes, you can't see any hint of ill-intent.

"Solgaleo," your dad says from in front of you, his voice laced with desperation, "can you get the Ultra Beast DNA out of her?"

Without breaking eye contact, the Legendary Pokémon slowly nods its head. Your dad squeezes your hand, turning to you. You look up at him and give a slight nod. Sycamore gives you a small smile as he kisses the back of your hand, stepping away. You turn back to Solgaleo, ready for whatever needs to be done, and ready for all this to be over. The Pokémon closes its eyes as the starscape on its head lights up in a brilliant blue. You can feel a wave of heat hit you as Solgaleo's mane lights up. The world around you seems to melt away as all you can focus on is the prickling sensation crawling up your spine.

With no warning, the small prickling suddenly morphs into a violent pierce. You cry out as every muscle in your body contracts and every joint locks up. It feels like someone took a hammer to every bone in your body and is proceeding to pull every bone out of socket. Your skin crawls and goosebumps erupt all over your body as the pain spreads. Your blood feels hot, like it's boiling in your veins.

"Stop! Stop it! You're taking out the wrong one!" you hear your dad scream. A huge wave of relief washes over you as most of the pain stops, but the ghost of it still lingers, tingling at the top of your skin. Your dad kneels down to you, making sure you're still breathing. Solgaleo has a brief look of confusion on its face, but the puzzlement disappears when it turns to look at your dad. Following the Pokémon's movements, you stare up at your father.

"Dad? What did you mean by that?" you ask him. Sycamore runs a hand through his messy hair as he lets out a long sigh, looking away.

"Well... ma chèrie, you have more than just Ultra Beast DNA inside of you," he says quietly. You look at him with a confused expression, silently urging him to elaborate.

"When you were young, you suddenly fell very ill," he starts, "I took you to the best doctors in Kalos, but none of them could help you. They said it was a rare illness that causes the body to completely shut down. They all said there was nothing that could be done. They said I should enjoy what time we had left," he muttered grimly. "Well, I wasn't going to take that as an answer. I had already lost your mother, and I was not about to lose you too. So, I took you to where stories described the residence of the legendary Pokémon of Life, and somehow, I managed to find it. I plead with Xerneas to heal you, to give you another chance at life. Granting my prayer, Xerneas gave you a piece of itself that absorbed into you. It strengthened you, and has kept you alive."

Professor Kukui puts two and two together:

"So now that the Ultra Beast DNA mixed with Xerneas's DNA inside of her, the only way to get rid of the Ultra Beast DNA would be to-" 

"-would be to remove the Xerneas essence as well," you say, cutting Professor Kukui off. Your dad looks down at you with so much sadness in his eyes.

"Without the power from Xerneas, your illness will quickly cause your body to shut down, and you'll..." Sycamore trails off, unable to finish his sentence, but everyone knows what he was implying. You look down to the ground, your fingers playing with the hem of your shirt. You swallow thickly as tears start well up behind your eyes. You know what has to be done.

"Well, it looks like we have two options here," you say, turning back to your dad. Tears are already starting to spill out of his eyes.

"(Y/N)-" he starts, but you ignore him.

"One: We take it out. We stop all this destruction and suffering and I go down in history as a legend who sacrificed herself to save the world, even though I kinda broke it in the first place.. but we won't mention that part," you say lightheartedly, your voice cracking slightly at the end. Sycamore gives a small laugh as a few stray tears roll down his cheek.

"Or Two: I selfishly leave the DNA alone and I die a slow and painful death, ultimately destroying the universe in the process," you say quieter as tears starts to slip out of the corners of your eyes.

"We can figure something out," your dad whispers as he grabs your hand, "there has to be another way." 

"Dad-" you start, but he's not listening.

"We could-we could find Xerneas and ask it to help."

"Dad we can't-"

"It might still be there, we could just go real quick and-"

"Dad!" you say loudly, snapping him out of his rambling. He looks into your eyes, and you give him a small smile as another tear rolls down his cheek. "I'm not making it out of this one, Dad," you whisper, your heart aching. He looks down at the ground, closing his eyes as he lets out a shaky breath. "I'd rather not drag everyone else down with me," you say quietly. Sycamore looks back up at you with glossy eyes.

"If we just had more time..." he whispers, and you wrap your arms around him, wincing at the ache in your muscles. He returns the hug, holding you tighter than ever before.

"(Y/N)?" you hear Ash say above you. Your dad pulls away and reluctantly gets up, allowing room for Ash to kneel down to you. He avoids your gaze, so you put your hand on his shoulder and pull him in for a hug. His arms wrap around you as he lets a few tears slip.

"I'm going to miss you, (Y/N)," Ash says quietly. You nod, unable to form words due to the lump in your throat. You can feel Pikachu hug your ankle and you give a breathy laugh out of your nose. Ash pulls away and you clear your throat.

"Thank you Ash, and Pikachu, you've done so much for me and I can't thank you enough," you say, smiling at them. They give you a sad smile in return and back away as Professor Kukui and Burnet step forward. You can see that they're trying to keep it together for Ash, but their façade is cracking. 

"(Y/N), we just want you to know how proud we are of you, and how much we'll cherish the time we had together," Burnet says with a small smile.

"You may have been a bit reckless, but I wouldn't have changed a thing," Kukui says with a small chuckle. You laugh and smile at them both, wrapping your arms around Burnet before doing the same to Kukui.

"I know it was a weird few weeks for you guys, and I don't know how I could ever thank you for how much you've done for me," you say, a few stray tears rolling down your cheek.

"There's no need," Kukui says, a lump forming in his throat. You smile at them as they step back to Ash, letting Professor Sycamore and Cato back in.

"Hey bud," you whisper as Cato pushes his head into your chest. You run your hand through his mane as you let out a small hiccup. You bury your head into his fur and hug him tight, not wanting to let go. "You've always been there for me, Cato. Even when I did stupid things you always stuck with me. You're my best friend," you say through your tears. You can feel Cato pushing against you, trying to hug you for as long as he can. You don't want to let go, because when you do, you might not ever get to hug him again.

"I love you, Cato," you whisper as you squeeze your eyes shut, letting the tears fall. Your Luxray makes a small noise in response, and you know what he's trying to say. When you finally force yourself to pull away, the ache in your heart hurt far worse than the pain from the Ultra Beast. You look Cato in the eyes and smile, planting a small kiss on the tip of his nose and petting his mane one last time.

When you turn to your dad, he quickly envelops you in a tight hug. You bury your face in the crook of his neck, just like you used to when you were little. His long arms wrap around your smaller frame, one hand resting on the back of your head. Tears run down his face as he holds you close for the last time.

"I just got you back," he whispers, broken. "I love you, ma chèrie."

You can hear so much sadness in his words.

"I love you too, Dad," you choke out, your eyes burning from the tears. You know you're running out of time, and you breathe shakily as your grip loosens. Reluctantly pulling away, Sycamore kisses your forehead, trying to stretch out these last fleeting seconds. You look up to Solgaleo, who has been respectfully waiting for you to finish your goodbyes. You give him a small nod indicating that you're ready. The Legendary Pokémon steps forward as your dad takes hold of your hand. You look up to him with a brave face.

"Time to save the world."


	22. The End

Solgaleo looks down at you, waiting. You take one last deep breath and squeeze your dad's hand.

"Take it out," you say, trying to keep a steady voice. Immediately, the Legendary Pokémon's mane heats up and its head shines brightly. You recoil at the light, closing one eye as the other attempts to adjust. The pain starts out small, only slightly noticeable. You can feel an uncomfortable weight in your veins, like something else is coursing through it. The pain quickly escalates, once again making your blood feel like it's boiling, and like your veins are going to burst from your skin. You grit your teeth, trying not to scream. Your legs give out from underneath you, unable to hold your weight any longer. Your dad catches you and carefully lays you down on the ground, still holding your hand as he kneels over you.

You look down to see your veins start glowing faintly. It's almost like your skin is translucent and the blood flow inside of you turned a bluish-gray color. In that moment, your muscles tighten as the bluish-gray color seeps out of your skin, almost like a mist that has a little more solidity to it. Your eyes widen as you realize that this is the DNA from the two Pokémon. As the essence leaves your body, everything starts going downhill. Electricity starts discharging out of your hands, draining the remains of Xurkitree, and you start to feel weaker. You clench your jaw, withstanding the pain. As more and more of the electricity and DNA leaves your body, you can feel yourself losing strength. The illness your dad talked about is returning already.

Finally, the electricity disappears, and you feel an empty weight in your chest. You breathe heavily, trying to get in as much air as you can, but it's getting harder to breath. Your lungs are already starting to fail. With one last wave of heat from Solgaleo's mane, the Legendary Pokémon jerks its head upwards, pulling the last remaining foreign DNA from your skin. You look up at the thick, twirling mist floating in front of you as a wave of exhaustion falls over you. Letting your head fall back onto the ground, you let out a weary breath. You try to bring your knees up, but you realize you can't move your legs.

Your body is already failing. The illness is already catching up after all these years of being dormant. You stare up at the sky, a thick gray covering the stars. You can feel everything in your body slowing, and you know that this is it. You turn your head slightly to look at your dad. He's biting his lower lip, trying to keep himself together. Cato is sitting next to him, looking down at you. Your breath hitches as you try to breathe, and you swallow thickly.

"Did it work?" you ask quietly. Sycamore nods down at you, a small tear escaping the corner of his eye.

"Oui, it worked, mon coeur. The universe is already starting to fix itself," your dad says as he puts his hand on top of yours. You give a breathy laugh as blink slowly, your eyes burning. Before you get too weak, you reach up and cup Cato's face, smiling. In return, he pushes his head down into your cold hand, closing his eyes.

"Cato," you rasp, "I need you to take good care of Dad, okay? He's gonna need it." 

You breathe heavily and smile up at your best friend as tears well up behind your eyes. Cato nods his head into your head, and you can feel his tears dripping onto your fingertips. Your arm becomes numb and it drops slowly from his face, too weak to hold itself up. You can feel your heart slowing with each beat, and your breathing becomes more ragged with each passing second. Sycamore puts his hand on yours once again, pulling it to his chest.

"(Y/N)," he says quietly. You turn your head slowly to look at him. You can see the tears that he had been holding back finally break free and run down his cheeks. "I love you, ma chèrie," he whispers, holding your hand against his heart. You smile at him, your breathing shallow with tears slipping down your face as you whisper back.

"I love you too, Dad."

And with those words, you feel yourself start to slip. Your breathing slows alongside your heartbeat, and your hearing starts to fade. You could make out your dad mumbling to you, but his words are lost behind a dull hum. As you take your shallow breaths, you look up to the sky again. The gray slate covering the air has disappeared, and you can see beautiful stars shining above. The corners of your lips turn up into a small smile as you look at the lights.

For a brief moment, you feel at peace.

Darkness creeps up from the sides of your eyes as your heart slows, and with one last exhale, your chest lowers and you close your eyes, the illness finally claiming your life after failing so long ago.

~~~~~

Sycamore lets out a sob as he watches you take your last breath. He drops his head between his shoulders as tears drop from his cheeks and onto the ground beside you. Ash and the Professors stand behind Sycamore quietly, unable to break the silence. After a moment, Professor Kukui steps up and gently puts his hand on Sycamore's shoulder, but your dad simply brushes him off. The moments that followed hung heavy, and felt like they lasted a lifetime. Even though the fabric of reality had been repaired, the heartbreak and hopelessness that surrounded this small group was thick.

Off to the side, Solgaleo lets out a deep growl, gently forcing everyone's attention. Sycamore looks to the side at the Legendary Pokémon and instantly straightens up. Solgaleo had separated the two DNAs and managed to manipulate what was left of Xerneas's into a ring with a small, blue crystal on the top. Sycamore quickly reaches out and takes the ring, staring at it for a brief moment before grabbing your small hand. He slides it onto your finger, his heart racing. When nothing happens, Sycamore turns back to Solgaleo, who merely gives a small gesture to your body.

Your dad looks back down at you and slowly reaches down to your neck, checking for a pulse. When his fingertips feel a small heartbeat, he nearly faints. A grin makes its way onto his face as he laughs, disbelief written in his features. Tears once again run down his face, but this time from happiness.

"Why isn't she waking up?" Ash asks quietly from the side. Sycamore turns to them, his smile fading slightly.

"This small amount of essence from Xerneas is enough to bring her back and keep her heart beating, but it isn't enough to wake her up and keep her functioning," He says to them, turning back to Solgaleo, who nods in confirmation. Sycamore looks down at you, hope bubbling in his chest and ideas materializing in his brain.

"She needs more of its life essence."

~~~~~

Professor Sycamore sits at his desk, scribbling away at yet another useless study. His mind is occupied with more important matters, but he was unable to drop his studies when he returned, so here he is, still completing menial experiments for his job. He wears his usual look: colored shirt, dark pants, and messy hair. He left his lab coat in your room on accident, and he reminds himself to grab it next time he goes in there. Suddenly, the Professor's thoughts are interrupted by an assistant carelessly rushing in. Sycamore groans, leaning his head down on the desk.

"I've told you people a _million_ times, stop barging-"

"We found it," the assistant says, interrupting him. The Professor abruptly lifts his head, staring at the young man.

"What?" he asks deeply.

"It worked. We found Xerneas."

Augustine hastily jumps out of his chair and brushes past the assistant, shoving the door open. He maneuvers his way through the familiar halls and into the other laboratory. The room is chaotic, filled with assistants running around, papers flying everywhere, and a loud beeping covering their voices. When Sycamore enters, everyone stops and turns toward him, waiting for him to speak, but he merely looks up to the giant monitor in the middle of the room.

On the screen, a map of Kalos is visible, and in the corner, a set of coordinates blinks. The location they describe is lit up on the map. Once again, Professor Sycamore rushes out the door. He runs through the halls, trying to avoid knocking into anyone. When he reaches your door, he grips the handle and quickly enters. Cato jolts upright in his bed on the floor, startled. Grabbing a chair, Sycamore sits down next to your bed. Your small frame is tucked under the sheets, and an IV is hooked up to your arm. The small ring with Xerneas's power is visible on your hand, and Sycamore smiles at it before turning to you.

"Mon coeur, we found Xerneas," he says, "We're going to bring you back, and everything will be just the way it should be."

He reaches out and grabs your small hand, holding it tight in his large one.

"You'll be right by my side when we finally create our pure, beautiful world with Xerneas and Yveltal," he states, "Just like how I told you when you were little."

Another lab assistant opens the door to your room, irritatingly gaining your dad's attention.

"Professor, shall I send word to the boss?" he asks flatly. Sycamore lets go of your hand, standing up and turning to the assistant.

"Oui, contact Lysandre right away. He'll be thrilled to know we've located the last piece in our little puzzle," your dad says, sending the assistant away. Sycamore leans over and grabs his black lab coat from your desk, putting it on as he goes to leave your room. Before he exits, he turns back to you and smiles.

"I can't wait for you to see it, ma chère," he says, closing your door.


End file.
